READERVOICE.COM: What are some other books you’ve enjoyed, fiction or non fiction?

ELI BISHOP: I’m going to just go with the most recent things I’ve read. Fiction: the Southern Reach SF/fantasy trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer [Annihilation, Acceptance and Borne]. Non-fiction: The Castle of Indolence, a collection of poetry reviews by Thomas M. Disch. Also, the comics version of the Octavia Butler novel Kindred, adapted by Damian Duffy and John Jennings.

RV: Do you collect a lot of minicomics or other comics and what have been some of your favorites?

EB: I do have a lot of comics and boxes full of minicomics. I don’t know how to answer the second question— I have like a million favorites. For minicomics, to pick just two artists, I’m constantly amazed by the work of Kevin Huizenga, and I’m very happy that there’s now a book collection of Jenny Zervakis’s, Strange Growths.

RV: What was it like studying the MFA at California College of the Arts?

EB: It was intense and rewarding, especially the opportunity to exchange feedback on work in progress, in workshops with people who had more/different skills than me. I don’t think all cartoonists should necessarily go to grad school, but I definitely think they should all try some kind of workshop/critique group, even if that just means swapping pages with a friend over a beer.

RV: One review said you hadn’t put out a minicomic for a long time before your latest anthology Busybody #1. What were you doing in the interim?

EB: I did a few short comics here and there, and some other comics projects that never got off the ground. I was pretty distracted by life in general and personal things, and just wasn’t very motivated to put art out into the world until I went back to school.

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– copyright Simon Sandall