LOVE THIEVES: MARC ELLERBY ON LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

Thusfar, two volumes of Love The Way You Love have been released with a third scheduled for later this month. The book centers around the budding romance between an up & coming singer Tristan and the girlfriend of a prominent record executive, Isobel. As Tristan pursues Isobel, Isobel's boyfriend, Marcus Lee, is relentlessly pursuing Tristan and his band.

We spoke with writer Jamie S. Rich earlier this year about the series, and now we turn to the artist Marc Ellerby. In the short time Ellerby has been in comics, Love The Way You Love is his best known work, although he also collaborated with Jamie S. Rich on the Belle & Sebastian anthology, Put The Book Back On The Shelf, from Image. Before that, he spent several years doing his own autobiographical comics.

Newsarama: If I had two words to describe Love The Way You Love it would be 'romance' and 'music'. How would you describe the comic?

Marc Ellerby: I'd say it's a book with a lot of heart and character however I think it's
mainly about the pitfalls of romance. When Isobel and Tristan first saw each-other at the airport in issue 1, for Isobel it wasn't as easy as going up to him and asking for his number, she's already going out with Marcus, so the first 3 volumes is how they all deal with that and how Isobel's decisions affect those around her. With most romances it's not always easy getting from A to B and I think Love The Way You Love reflects that really well.

NRAMA: Are there any particular nuances to romance comics you've found through cartooning them over doing another kind of comic?

ME: Hmmm, well I like the way which Love The Way You Love borrows a lot from manga. You know the larger panel structures, some open plan you know? I like drawing people's expressions and romance is pretty perfect for that as a facial expression can often say what words can't. I know my style's hardly that detailed but I do try my hardest in getting the right look on the character's faces. But then these qualities can be applied to any genre in comics.

NRAMA: By this third volume, Tristan and Isobel's relationship has gone from just casual eyeing of each other to something more real, but
Isobel's engaged to her boyfriend. What's Isobel thinking at this point?

ME: Well she realizes that Marcus is a bit of a slime, but ultimately he's not always that bad and he's always done right by her, it's just Tristan is what she's looking for in a man. Sweet, talented, has the same outlook on life as her and cares deeply about her. She feels bad about hurting Marcus by sneaking around behind his back, but it's just one of those situations that she's nervous about confronting.

NRAMA: Tristan is balancing his life as the leader of the up & coming band Like A Dog with his aspirations for getting with Isobel. Can you tell us how Tristan is handling his situation in volume 3?

ME: Badly. The climax of 3 leads directly into 4 where Like A Dog are cast aside in the industry which is because of Tristan's relationship with Isobel.

Volume 4 deals with Tristan and Isobel having to come to terms with what their relationship could mean for their professional lives and by Isobel choosing Tristan over Marcus does this mean that Tristan has to make a choice over what means more to him. His girl or his music? Drama, much?

NRAMA: As you spend so much time chronicling their adventures, what would you say Like A Dog would sound like in real life?

ME: Well I sorta imagine them like Rites Of Spring, really fast yet melodic, with really excellent vocals and riffs but I know that Jamie imagines these guys to sound like The Smiths or something. To me Rites Of Spring represent the same outsider music as Like A Dog do, you know? Rites of Spring were never that huge but their cult status still lives on today, even if people aren't aware of them, most of the hardcore or emo bands of now owe a lot to Rites of Spring, because there was the foundation for their sound. They're on Dischord records so people should try and check them out if they can, Guy, the vocalist went on to work with Fugazi so yeah, the creds are all there!

NRAMA: I assume more than a few people have been grabbed by the scene-stealing antics of Tristan's brother Lance in this series. How would you describe him and how he fits into the band and the relationship between Tristan and Isobel?

ME:He's like a Loony Tune mixed with Peter Townsend. He's actually not in Like a Dog (Tristan's band) but he's a huge supporter of what they do and wants what's best for his brother. Lance is so my favorite character , he has a habit of popping up between panels and he's equal parts hilarious and tragic. He's comedic relief, like the Xander or the Jughead of the Love The Way YOU Love world so it's not all "I love yous!" and outbursts of emotions. Of course he comes into his own with Jamie's The Everlasting novel, where the character's fleshed much more than his appearances in Love The Way You Love, but I love him just fine at the moment, chasing after girls and threatening punks outside venues.

NRAMA: In the past you've traditionally focused on your own autobiographical comics. How was it to work with a writer and a full script?

ME: A bit weird at first, as when I work on my own comics, my scripts are just lines of dialogue with basic page instructions, so to have these stage directions and heavily detailed set pieces shoved under my nose was a bit of a shock.

With the most recent issues (3 and 4), Jamie's stripping the script back a bit and allowing me to set up my own designs, with some parts only really having the dialogue. It's down to trust though, I know what he wants the product to look like and he knows what I'm capable of so we're now at the stage where we can feed off each other's ideas and inspirations. It's an extremely positive and fulfilling collaboration.

NRAMA: Do you plan to do any more autobiographical comics in the future?

ME: Oh yeah for sure. I'm actually working on a few little projects at the moment with the autobio themes. One's a mini comic called The Venal Muse, that hopefully will form the basis for a longer narrative, perhaps a graphic novel. The mini should coincide with the exhibition of the same name I'm contributing to.

Autobiography just intrigues me to no ends, it's quite challenging at times, but awfully satisfying. It's one of those subjects in any medium where the reader can pretty much always identify with what's going on. Solo projects tend to take a back seat when doing something long term (and paid!) like Love The Way You Love.

NRAMA: This month marks the release of the third volume of Love The Way You Love. How many volumes do you and Jamie plan to do?

ME: Six. Although I'd like to do a few specials or something down the line if Jamie was up for it. I quite like the idea of having an issue dedicated to a certain couple in the Love The Way You Love world, but then you know, it's really not my call and I'm just thinking out loud.

NRAMA: This collaboration with Jamie is your first professional work in comics; how was it for him to ask you to collaborate on what was to be such a long series?


ME: Man, I was shocked at first, then sorta flattered. Then came the fear. It wasn't just the prospect of working with Jamie that filed me with equal parts glee and terror, it was also working with Oni, who I've been a huge fan of for years. I didn't really know how long I would be staying on the book as I didn't want to count my chickens before they hatched, for all I know they could of chucked me off the third issue, you know? But 2 years on one book's a good amount of time and as long as we have fun, it doesn't feel like a chore.

NRAMA: Your artwork is far and away one of the most unique styles in comics; the closest way I could describe it would be Matt Groenig meets Magnus Carlsson. Were you always influenced by comics? Can you tell us about your experience with art over the years?

ME: I took the education route, I studied Graphic Design for a while at college but then moved to Fine Art because I missed drawing so much and I felt isolated and out of place doing design. After college I went to University and studied Illustration at the Kent Institute of Art And Design (now University College of Creative Arts) where I sorta found my footing a little. I wanted to be a fashion illustrator at first and was really influenced by Graham Rounthwaite, Julie Verhoeven and Jason Brooks but then at KIAD I re-found my love of comics and never looked back.

I've mainly done a few bits and pieces for anthologies, mainly the RagTag books bought out by Punch Throat. I've drawn a few illustrations for some music related companies like Drowned In Sound and the Truck Festival but the biggie, I guess, was the Belle And Sebastian anthology book that Image put out. It was such a honor to be in a book with talent as amazing as Andi Watson and Caita Chen and Jamie wrote the script for that too. I hope my art continues to develop with each project and issue.

NRAMA: You've also participating in an art exhibition in February. Can you give us the details for our UK readers?

ME: It's called The Venal Muse exhibition and it was meant to be taking place at the Brick Lane Gallery in East London, but now that's been changed so I guess it's now T.B.A. It's still happening in the middle of February I think.

Anyway, the name of the show's from a poem by Baudelaire, but the show itself won't be confined to the subject of muses, rather use them as a starting ground for ideas. We're going to have a book shop as well as hung work, so hopefully it'll be a really fun environment. We're all big fans of artist's books so it makes sense to incorporate that into the show. People might want to check my site for more information on that.

[jza1218]

I'm loving this book. I can't wait to pick up book 3 tomorrow!

[bishop-m]

I've yet to read this, but will see if my LCS has it when I go this week. If not, i'll track it down!

[c_andrew_s]

This book is amazing! I can't wait to read it

[Illustr8r]

Read "Scott Pilgrim" much?