NICHOLAS GUREWITCH ON THE PERRY BIBLE FELLOWSHIP

[MattBrady]

by Zack Smith

The Perry Bible Fellowship, named for a random church in Perry, Maine, has very little to do with the Bible. In fact, laughing at the strip’s outrageous dark comedy might make you worry that you’re going to Hell.

The brainchild of 25-year-old Nicholas Gurewitch, the comic has become a runaway hit since he began it in college in 2001. It’s grown to appear in more than 20 newspapers, Maxim magazine and of course on its own web site. Now, it’s poised to conquer the publishing world with The Trial of Colonel Sweeto, a hardcover collection from Dark Horse Comics. Already a bestseller, it’s the perfect introduction to Gurewitch’s world of doughy humans, sarcastic aliens, and really, really horrible things happening. We chatted with Gurewitch about his strip’s success, his inspirations, and just how he creates his horrifying hilarious strip.

Newsarama: Nicholas, the book’s been very successful so far – it’s at the top of Amazon’s graphic novel sellers, and Dark Horse has already gone back to press on it.

Nicholas Gurewitch: Yeah, it’s been exciting.

NRAMA: It’s certainly one of the biggest cases of a webcomic crossing over into hard-copy form. Is there anything you attribute to the rapid success of the collect?

NG: It might have something to do with the cover…if not the cover, perhaps the content.

NRAMA: Touché. Well, the book does have a very colorful, distinctive design. How long did it take you to come up with it?

NG: About a year – I worked with the Dark Horse people, who came up with the format, and I did different illustrations and things, that got approved for the final version. It was a real reminder of what I can and can’t do.

NRAMA: In what way?

NG: I don’t mean to indicate that they had to stop me from doing something that I wanted to do. I just had to be reminded sometimes of the parameters (of the design). I also wanted to make the book longer, but I’ll just make the next book longer.



NRAMA: In terms of working within limits – you are working within one of the most limited forms of storytelling, the three-panel gag comic. But you demonstrate a very versatile style within those limits. Have you ever considered opening the strip up a bit, doing a longer story or in a larger format?

NG: Well, I do four panels sometimes, and even five on some occasions. But a longer story is something that I haven’t yet encountered in my aspirations. I haven’t found a story in my mind yet that I feel needs to be longer.

NRAMA: Well, have you considered something like the cover to this book, where you have a larger single image – you know, like you encounter in a picture book? You do pay homage to that type of storytelling with your Edward Gorey homage.

NG: Yeah, I suppose if I extended the story a bit, it could actually become enjoyable…

NRAMA: (laughs) Come on, man…

NG: I think the way I come up with these images is that I think of the whole story, and then I get rid of everything except the beginning, middle and end. Because at their hearts, these are really long stories that should probably be in long books that are condensed down to the small format.



NRAMA: That gets into the question every creator hates – “Where do you get your ideas?” Is there a PBF formula, or a thought process that goes into making one of your strips?

NG: The final outcome of what’s presented in each comic strip is reminiscent of many other comics I’ve done, but I don’t think there’s a specific thought process for each strip. I don’t think I need a surprise ending, for example. When it comes down to the strip, I think that a rambunctious ending is something the reader needs after dealing with the story. I think it might just be a proclivity toward a certain type of storytelling.

NRAMA: How long does it usually take you to come up with a story and reduce it to a three or four or five-panel effect?

NG: A lot of thought goes into that, actually. I think of the stories as actually being seven, eight, nine panels long, contemplating the backstories of all the characters, then I whittle them down to the shorter length. That usually involves…maybe a couple of months of thinking about it, of letting it sit around on my sketch pad. But other times, it can just be two days. I think what I generally need is at least three occasions to come up with a draft, and run it by some friends, and get their opinions.



NRAMA: When it comes to condensing these backstories – what’s an example? Was there one strip where you started with a particularly complex story that you had to condense into a single, simple gag?

NG: Well, the foremost example might be the one that the book is named after, Colonel Sweeto. What you’ve got on the cover is basically the backstory of the political ramifications to that CandyLand world. Then there’s the one with the hammer and the screwdriver. When you’re looking at that middle panel, you can imagine Mr. Hammer going at Mrs. Hammer with a lack of success, because you can see his bent nails in her in that second panel. You can imagine what he’s been doing prior. To me, that’s a very enjoyable activity – imagining all the activity that’s not necessarily present.

NRAMA: You’ve got a few recurring characters in the strip – you ever imagine that there are three or four set “worlds” in the PBF universe? You mentioned Mr. Hammer, and there have been many other strips of characters with objects for heads. And then there’s the Pupulons, and of course the pasty-human characters.

NG: Yeah, they all live in the same world – all the people with the replacement-heads. Maybe there’s like five or ten different worlds. I think the colorless, doughy figures are on one world. And there’s this other world with kind of a 1950s sentimentality where you see kids with noses and rosy cheeks. And that same world might be the one that the aliens torment…though I’m not sure.

NRAMA: Well, you do have the aliens deciding to destroy Earth over Pupulon, but you have the Pupulons getting blown up in another strip, so does Pupulon still exist?

NG: Actually, that was just like three Puplons being blown up, so the planet Pupulon is still out there. You have a good point – the Earth probably has been blown up one too many times. That might blow up the theory of the comics taking place in the same world, actually.



NRAMA: Now, you mentioned the colorless, doughy figures. That’s one of the main visual points of the book – the contrast between these simplistic figures and the colorful, elaborate backgrounds they inhabit. Why did you make this choice as an artist?

NG: Mmm…laziness, maybe? I know when I first started drawing the comic, I was implementing them. It may have just coincided with my worldview. Maybe I just look at things simply.

The first few comics that I did seemed to be almost borderline hieroglyphics, because they were so simple. You could just barely detect the presence of a person, because its outline was provided with two dots for eyes, and a mouth. It might have made me comfortable with the subject matter I was dealing with, I’d imagine, because it was so risqué.

NRAMA: Well, have you ever done a strip where you just wonder, “Why did I think of that?” You have some “lost strips” in the back of this collection, but have you ever had an occasion where you think, “This is too far, even for me?”

NG: Not really. It’s not usually myself who has to be the one to say that. I do feel those feelings eventually, though. I saw where someone wrote into a newspaper that my comic runs in, and they said that the comic sucked and there was no reason why anyone should find a boy burning in a barn funny.

And I agree with them – there’s no reason why that should ever be funny. I do feel bad that I’m making this person feel that. I feel bad that some people see the comics that way. The strip mentioned, “Finneas,” where you have a Lassie dog neglect a small child in favor of eating lunch…I feel very bad that the comic is misinterpreted that way, and I do question why I like comedy that is so misinterpreted. That does inspire some contemplation – not regret, but I do wonder why I’m like this.

NRAMA: Well, it never hurts to have some self-reflection.

NG: Yeah. It’s usually elicited by someone else’s disgust, though. I don’t think I ever sit around and go, “Oh, that’s terrible!” I’m able to accept that it’s a deliberately construed scenario, and I usually know my reasons for (thinking that way).



NRAMA: What are some of your favorite examples of dark comedy from film, TV and other mediums? You have an Edward Gorey and a Roald Dahl homage in the book, but what are some other specific examples?

NG: Vonnegut’s great. Tom Robbins is very funny. I really like Charles Addams. And of course, Gary Larson. I really enjoy really dark comedy when it’s done properly, but dark comedy done incorrectly or insensitively is probably what I hate the most.

NRAMA: You’ve had a lot of success with your web comic. Do you do it as a full-time job?

NG: If anything, it’s more than a full-time job. (laughs) There have been some instances of lost sleep.

NRAMA: What kind of materials or software do you use in creating the strip?

NG: I try to create as much as possible on paper, on an illustration board, before I scan. The scanning process is done in Adobe Photoshop, which I also use to color the strip on occasion – it has the functions I need to clean the strip up.

NRAMA: Do you use different drawing materials when you’re doing the strip in different styles?

NG: Yeah, all the time.

NRAMA: What are some specific examples?

NG: I think I used chalk on a strip involving vultures in the desert, and I used colored pencils on a strip involving a lumberjack in a forest. Oh, and the “Golden Ticket” strip you mentioned is a homage to Quentin Blake, where I tried to emulate his use of watercolor.



NRAMA: What are some techniques you haven’t used yet that you’d like to explore in the future?

NG: Probably oils and acrylic painting. I know I don’t have enough time to do an oil painting, to let it dry before deadline comes, so I am rare to employ oil paintings.

NRAMA: You did some work for Comedy Central. Have you ever considered doing some PBF animations for Adult Swim or online, like a Flash animation?

NG: I don’t think a lot of PBFs would take well to animation, because they’re designed to be seen in frames, mostly. But I love cartoons, and I would love to make a longer piece that involved animation.

NRAMA: You mentioned Gary Larson as an influence – did you ever see his animated special, Tales from the Far Side? That was also a case of taking a gag strip and doing it in animated form.

NG: I did see the cartoon, but I didn’t think it worked as well as the strips. Those cartoons were meant to be seen in frames, and they were more effective in that format. I think the strips have an endearing effect on you that animation doesn’t allow. I think animation gets you ready to see the next thing. Animation is like a perpetually-moving thing, so you’re always expecting something more, so when you’re confronted with a static image, there’s a violent push to appreciate what you’re given. That’s what I love about a lot of Far Sides. You’re confronted with an image, and you’re pushed to have a reaction to it. Animation rarely uses that, and can rarely be used for that, because of all the activity, all of the motion, which sets up the expectation that the comedy comes from that. That’s not what The Far Side was about.

NRAMA: And not what PBF is about, obviously.

NG: Yeah.



NRAMA: Do you currently read any newspaper comics, or any comic books?

NG: Not particularly. I do love looking at the funnies whenever I have them around me – I just don’t have a subscription to a newspaper at the moment.

NRAMA: What are some older comic strips that were influences on you, beyond The Far Side?

NG: I can look at Little Nemo in Slumberland and have my jaw drop, and not rise for many, many pages. That stuff’s amazing. The So Many Splendid Sundays one, that’s absolutely jaw-dropping.

NRAMA: Anything coming up for you outside of PBF?

NG: I would love to explore new frontiers. I don’t know what that entails, or if it’s just a half-hearted idea or something I really want to do. I find my interests involve not wanting nuclear missiles to be proliferated. I find myself fearing for the planet. And I have this feeling that making comics is not the best way to contribute to solving these problems. I’m doing some contemplating to reconcile that within myself. But I do constantly worry about the world’s problems. Maybe I’ll try to combat them soon. Or maybe I’ll just keep making comics. I don’t know.

[eltopo]

love these comics

[young destro]

PBF is one of the funniest webcomics of all time. ALL TIME!

[Armfaloffboy]

Picked it up, laughed heartily. Gave it to friends, they laughed heartily. Gave it to enemies, they laughed heartily.
This book must be dropped from planes over the Middle East.

[drastic_q]

It's the only webcomic I read.

[alschroeder]

Consistently excellent, and has been for years. Also a very good interviewee...I did an interview with him for Comixpedia several years ago.---Al

[Carter101]

PBF is by far the best web comic every

[O.J. Flow]

...this strip on my wall at work.



A must-read every time I pick up the Chicago Reader.

[CodeGuy]

It's a great comic, but I wish it would update more often. It used to come out once a week, lately it's been closer to once a month.

[seethruhero]

Great interview for the best webcomic ever.


Awesome, awesome stuff.

[Userama]

Hooray for PBF. There's nothing else like it right now.

[TheFoo]

Hands down, best comic on the web.

[Blackbeard]

PBF rules.

I wish they would update more often, but that's just 'cuz I'm a greedy bastage.

[RickinToronto]

this article with its cartoons could not have come at a better time. I am so sad today, it hurts. Real bad.

But now I've laughed!
*thanks*

[ArchonComics]

PBF is nonthing less than comic genius. I love it.

[pop monkey]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

NRAMA: You’ve got a few recurring characters in the strip – you ever imagine that there are three or four set “worlds” in the PBF universe? You mentioned Mr. Hammer, and there have been many other strips of characters with objects for heads. And then there’s the Pupulons, and of course the pasty-human characters.

What a uniquely silly comic-book sort of question!

[Syzlak]

Such funny stuff. I dig the part of the interview about confronting the static image. There are many strips in the book (haven't seen it online or in a paper) that you have to look at a second before you can decode the meaning. The surprise that comes with figuring it out adds to the humorous impact. He's able to juxtapose very simple images and convey a larger more complex meaning that's usually loaded with irony. This reminds me of a quote I heard recently that was attributed to Twain. I will no doubt butcher it here: "Sorry about the ten page letter, I didn't have time to write a one pager." It has to be time consuming to cut out everything that's extraneous and distill the gags to only the symbols needed to communicate effectively.

My only criticism of the book is that a handful of the gags get retold in different ways. Otherwise there is huge promise in the PBF book. I hope that Gurewitch continues to grow as an artist. I will no doubt follow his career for years to come.

[AbacusComics]

Once I discovered PBF, I think I read the whole darned archive in one sitting. It's freaking hilarious stuff.

And... not to beat a dead horse, but once again a fantastic web comic doesn't get N-rama attention until it goes to PRINT.

[Shenanigans Inc]

I love this comic. I wish the website would update more often. it used to be once a week.

btw, this book would make an awesome Christmas present for someone.

[earth2tom]

Originally Posted by AbacusComics

Once I discovered PBF, I think I read the whole darned archive in one sitting. It's freaking hilarious stuff.

And... not to beat a dead horse, but once again a fantastic web comic doesn't get N-rama attention until it goes to PRINT.

I couldn't agree more. There are so many webcomics out there it ain't funny and Newsarama could gain some new hits by becoming the place to come to find out about the goods ones. It isn't very easy to dig through all of the endless webcomics to find the gems and it would be nice for a site to do so and at the same time pimp some of those gems. Hint Hint. I know when I was doin' my webcomic, which was neither fantastic or freaking hilarious, I would occasionally post samples of it here and I could hardly even get anyone to check it out, even for needed criticsm. I am sure if I would have it collected I could at least get a blurb. What is up with that bias? Oh and PBF is quite possibly the funniest and tastelss strip I have ever had the demented pleasure of reading. And here I thought I had a ____ed up mind.

[DuncanHines]

Yeah, I've been reading PBF for a good 4 years or so. (I'm not sure exactly how long... Memory's tricky like that...) It's awesome to see all the hype Gurewitch is getting these days. The dude deserves it. PBF is definitely the best webcomic there is.

[Defunkt]

Never knew it was a webcomic! I know, shame on me
Glad I bought the HC and I loved every page of it.

[Spy_Smasher]

Erm ... the website sucks. Unless you want to read the comics randomly, there's a lot of scrolling up and down.

[strangernpar]

Thats some funny stuff right there. I don't care who you are