Most of the attention Millionaire has received of late has been in response to his book SockMonkey (though his fantastic Maakies collection, published by Fantagraphics, is a thing of beauty to behold!), which Dark Horse has published since 1999. Sock Monkey is a sweet, strange, and sometimes disturbing comic-book series about an innocent but curious stuffed monkey named Uncle Gabby and his often inebriated toy crow pal, Mr. Crow. Together, monkey and crow explore the beautiful old Victorian home where they live with a young girl named Ann Louise.
In November, Millionaire's latest Sock Monkey adventure -- an 80-page original story -- will debut in an all-new format. Sock Monkey: A Children's Book is Millionaire's first published foray into the world of illustrated prose, and we're betting that any fan of his poignant but slightly unsettling comics will appreciate this beautiful new story.
Dark Horse caught up with Millionaire for a few minutes right before this year's biggest convention unfolded, so read on for an quick inside look at the newest Sock Monkey adventure!
SE-G: Can you explain the format of the new book? Is it going to be like an illustrated kid's book with pictures and text as opposed to word balloons?
TM: Yes, it is this time. I decided just to do something different for this issue, and I decided to do it in sort of the style of Winnie The Pooh or Beatrix Potter-style book, where there is text on one page and on the next page is an illustration.
But the thing is, I really love drawing comics, so I don't think this is a permanent change. I just wanted to give it a try and see how it worked.
SE-G: How is it for you, writing prose as opposed to writing dialogue?
TM: It's a strange process because I am so used to drawing and writing comics that I can write dialogue easily, and I enjoy writing dialogue, but the mechanics of prose -- you know, "How do you get the sock monkey off of the table?" -- is becoming something really difficult for me.
I keep using the word "suddenly" and these cliches that just sort of keep sneaking in. I have to go back and say, "OK, that's a cliché. I've used the word `suddenly' six times on this page . . ." And then I have to clear it all up all the time. Just writing "then the sock monkey climbed off the table" is much more difficult than me having some words come out of his mouth.
SE-G: Yeah -- that can be cumbersome. Aside from the format, which I think is great, my favorite thing about this book so far is how your voice comes through a lot in the prose. Usually a book like this, or like the Winnie The Pooh books, for example -- they read sort of formally.
TM: Right.
SE-G: With this book you're definitely working in that style, but there is also this sort of underlying sarcasm throughout the whole thing. I don't know if it's actually sarcasm, but it's very much like hearing you read the book aloud, which is funny.
TM: Yeah, its kind of a mix between high falutin' and low falutin' (laughs). I've got some poetic speech going on, then suddenly I break it up by punching in a couple guttural crudities.
SE-G: Exactly. You know, a while back we talked and I got a quote from you to use in the press release for the book, and you mentioned that this was sort of the kid's book that you always wanted to find in your grandfather's closet when you were a kid.
TM: Right!
SE-G: And one of the first things I noticed was how in the very first scene, a monkey is struggling, trying to get a big ball of earwax out of his ear.
TM: Oh.
SG: And then later Ann Louise mentioned something about how she received a withered penis as a present once from her grandfather!
TM: Uh-oh!
SE-G: So I was wondering if this is the sort of stuff you expected to see in kids' books when you were younger?
TM: Well... (laughs)... I think you were reading the working script or text...I've actually changed both of those scenes now. There were a few funny, gross ideas I was working with, but those two were taken out. I just wrote in the word "penis" so I could get a laugh out of my editor, Phil Amara, when I sent in the script.
SE-G: That's funny. I thought it fit in pretty well for a Sock Monkey story, actually, and for a kid's book in general. Kids like gross stuff.
TM: Yeah, but all that has been cleaned up. In fact, the earwax isn't even there any more, I changed it to a tooth, not because earwax is too disgusting, but only that it fits in with the whole story. Nope. No withered peni.
SE-G: Peni aside -- do you ever base the toy characters on people you know? I'm curious, because all the toys --with the exception of Gabby -- are weird and oddly very human. They're almost instantly lovable because they're toys, but each one is really different from the next, and a lot of them are sort of cantankerous or odd. So how do you develop those sorts of personalities for toys?
TM: Well, I don't think that I actually base each character on a specific person that I know of, but I do base them on characteristics I see in the toy. I will hold the toy and look at it and suddenly a personality will pop into it.
But I think they're basically really different sides of myself. If I am in a mood where I'm being a big crybaby and everything is just ridiculous, then I think of the crow. I think of that side of myself. When I am in a mood where I am looking at clouds and I am imagining how beautiful it would be to jump around on them, then, of course, that's the sock monkey.
SE-G: That sounds about right.
TM: So, I think all of these characters, they just represent different attitudes.
SE-G: You just said that you figure a lot of this out when you are looking at the toy. I know you have the sock monkey and the crow, as actual toys you own. Do you have the other toys form the series, too, like Robin, the porcelain doll?
TM: Oh, yeah.
SE-G: So, when you look at the Robin doll, does she not seem as alive to you? In the book, she's the one that is, for some reason, not alive.
TM: She actually, from all the toys that I have, looks the most alive. She really looks like she's alive. This is an old, 100-year-old Victorian doll that I have. She has porcelain boots and a porcelain face, and her eyes are so scary! It's some kind of a French doll. Her eyes are so scary because she really looks like she is about jump up and start walking around. That is why I decided to make her the one who is actually not alive.
SE-G: Crazy! Dolls can be sort of creepy that way.
TM: Yeah, they can. And the other toy characters are things I have around. I have always found that when drawing some things, it is better to actually hold it in front of you and then draw it from life. Each thing has certain realities that you can't get if you just make something up. There is always something -- like a little piece of cloth that sticks out behind the ear or something -- that you wouldn't have thought of, if you were drawing it from memory. It's like when you have it right in front of you, there it is. And it's those little details that make everything look more real.
SE-G: One thing I noticed a lot in the working script for the book is that you mention the house being magical, or that there is some sort of magic bringing the dolls to life. As a child, or while intoxicated (laughs), or just because you were really tired -- have you ever had sort of a magical experience with an object where you thought it was alive or you perceived something, you know -- like a doll -- walking around??
TM: Well, I have told this story before about how I really was convinced that there was some kind of little man or something living in the closet at my grandmother's house because my cousin, who was older than me, and my malicious sister would kick the doorjamb while pointing to the little hole in the wall. She put a little chair up on the shelf, and she would say "That's his chair." And I really did believe that there was something to it -- that there was something alive in there...a little guy, but I couldn't imagine what he looked like.
SE-G: It's a fairly common thing, I think, for kids to sort of be afraid that their dolls are going to come to life. Besides what your cousin and sister did, did you ever have that sort of kid trip when you were younger, where there was like an object or doll or something that you were sort of afraid of and didn't want to be alone with?
TM: I haven't really experienced that, but I have seen it in other people. I was always the oldest kid in my family, so I kind of watched over the little kids, and I saw how they reacted to things. In fact, I was hanging around with a two-year old the other day, we went to a park and there was a magician there.
SE-G: This sounds creepy already!
TM: There's more! His assistant, dressed in a giant panda bear suit, got up on a ball, sort of walking around, and this little kid started screaming -- turning her head all around and freaking out. She was just losing it. And her mother said, "Well, she has a panda bear at home, and she doesn't really like it, and now she sees this thing." She was completely freaked out, so, yeah, I see it happen. I don't know if it ever happened to me, but I can see it happen to others.
SE-G: Definitely. I know you said you already miss working in the standard format of comics, with word balloons and dialogue and all, but do you think you'd be interested in attempting another prose book some day?
TM: Yeah, in fact I have been an illustrator for my whole life, so doing an illustration without the boxes and word balloons is just another way to work. And I always loved children books, so it's great to be able to do this. I really don't like to plan what I am going to do in the future, just because I never know what I'm going to end up doing. But I do love children's books and I do love comics, so I am sure there will be plenty of them coming out of me in the future.
Sock Monkey: A Children's Book will be on sale at a comic-shop or bookstore near you starting November 7. Created, written, and drawn by the award-winning Tony Millionaire, this black-and-white 80-page original illustrated novel will be available for $9.95.