There's an incredible wealth of articles in the ComixTalk archives: features and columns on craft, theory and business, insightful reviews and interviews with some of the most interesting folks in webcomics. We'll be taking a regular look back at past issues and catching up with creators we've previously covered.
Dave Wright interviewed Lee Adam Herold, the creator of Chopping Block in October of 2003. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. Herold has recently returned to creating new episodes of the comic and so it was great timing to catch up with him. (ComixTalk reviewed CB in October 2003.)
Chopping Block is back — what are your current plans for the world's most beloved serial killer?
As for Butch, no real plans. Just trying to get back to the work ethic of the old AltBrand days, when a consistent updating schedule was a point of pride, and I'd spend all day at work on the message boards trying to impress Xerexes, BoxJam, Burke, Guigar, Michael Lacroix nee Case Yorke, and many others. I've quit and restarted CB so many times now, I think all the pressure's off.
In the 2003 interview you mentioned the possibility of putting out a book of illustrated poetry, sort of in the vein of Tim Burton's The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy. Are you still thinking about possible other projects for print or the web?
Well, everyone's a writer, aren't they? Me and twenty six billion other people are working on our first novel. Separately, I mean. But I've been doing that since I was twelve. Nah, I got nothin' else. Keenspot's always got possibilities percolating here and there, though, but nothing's come to fruition as yet.
I've probably asked you this in years past but have you ever pursued freelance illustration? The style you bring to Chopping Block is so interesting and unique I'd think a whole bunch of publications would be interested in having you work on projects for them…
I would love it if you could round them up and have them start a queue at my door, to save my lazy ass the trouble of trying to get up off
the couch. I think it would probably be a great source of secondary income and could open a lot of doors. But the thought of going through all the *work* involved to get there, I mean the self-promotion and mailings and all that crap, makes my head hurt. I've probably said this somewhere before, but it reminds me of my favorite Calvin & Hobbes:
Calvin: I'm a misunderstood genius.
Hobbes: What's so misunderstood about you?
Calvin: Nobody thinks I'm a genius.
If someone would just realize I'm a genius and throw a bunch of money at me without me actually having to, y'know, ASK for it, that'd be
great.
Where are you located these days and what are you up to during the daytime hours?
Still and always in Pittsburgh. I can't imagine ever wanting to live anywhere else. I don't think you want to know what I do for a day
job, given the creepy dark violent undercurrents that permeate my creative side. It'd just ruin the mystique.
What are you planning on working on in 2008?
Again, that whole first novel thing. And the getting up off the couch. Always have an eye peeled for a big bag of drug money stashed
in the bushes somewhere, too. Couple hundred grand in unmarked $20s, if possible.
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