M. Peg: It's been awhile since you've done a Sock Monkey comic book.
Tony Millionaire: Yes, I focused on children's books for the past year, but I miss doing comics, so this year I'm doing two new Sock Monkey comic books. I've always been interested in children's books, some of my favorite artists were children's book illustrators. Anyone who's read my books can tell that I've been influenced by Ernest Shepard and Johnny Gruelle. I grew up with books by Thornton Burgess illustrated by Harrison Cady, books by Beatrix Potter, Norman Lindsay, all these great illustrations that I loved before I even knew that there were people making them. So I wanted todo a few children's books, I love it, and I'll tell you, there's nothing more rewarding than watching your 18 month old daughter insist on having you read your own book to her at bedtime. She can't know that her daddy wrote and illustrated the book, but The Glass Doorknob is her favorite book.
MP: What do you have in store for Sock Monkey readers this time around?
TM: I'm taking a different approach visually, I'm using charcoal and graphite pencils rather than pen and ink this time. I've always liked the way a drawing looks when it's sketched out in pencil and have often been almost reluctant to draw over it with a pen. The pencil line has a rounded organic feel to it, and since the book I'm working on now deals with sea animals, starfish, turtles and seals, I decided to go with the pencils. I can get a softer, more natural look. Plus there's a lot of seawater in this one, and that's hard to draw with pen and ink. There's more control and flow with the shading, and I don't know how I would have managed drawing kelp with a pen. Norman Lindsay used charcoal pencils for his 1917 Australian classic "The Magic Pudding," those are some amazing drawings.
MP: For the children's books you seemed to pull back from the horror and violence which you got into in the comic books. Are we going to see a softer, gentler Uncle Gabby this time around?
TM: No, I wanted to soften it up a bit for the kids in the children's books, but I intend to burn, sink or destroy everything that comes into view in these new comics. I don't think there are any two-year-olds reading comics, so I don't have to worry about giving them nightmares. Not that I think it's a good idea to hold back with kids in the first place. Kids have a dark side just like adults, and it's fun to explore it, but I have to be respectful of the mommies, they are the ones buying the kid's books after all. One of my daughter's favorite games is "Spooky" where we run around in the yard at dusk pretending to be afraid of everything, and some of the sickest, most violent comics I've ever seen are done by my sister's kids.
MP: Have the recent world events, war and terrorism, etc. figured into your work at all?
TM: No.
MP: A little while ago you illustrated a Batman short story in Bizarro Comics. Can we expect to see any more of that kind of thing from you?
TM: Yes, I just finished an eight-page story for Bizarro #2, written by Chip Kidd, who also wrote the last one. I love drawing Batman, he was the only one of the superhero comics that I really liked, because he doesn't have any superpowers. He's just a freaky guy in a suit with a lot of money. I really wanted to get Robin in the story this time because I wanted to draw a completely berserk crazed Robin. I drew him very young, it's fun to see an eleven-year-old out of his mind with rage, punching grown-ups in the stomach. I also liked Iron Man because of the yellow and red costume, but I can't draw him for DC, because he's a Marvel character so that would be stupid.
The creepy and decidedly not stupid adventures of Sock Monkey continues when Dark Horse Comics releases Sock Monkey Volume 4, #1 by Tony Millionaire on May 7.