IamA guy who does The Perry Bible Fellowship AMA!

Pro- or anti-skub?

At this stage in my life, I'm done fighting. Life is too short. I understand that all conflicts are part of a cosmic dance, and that having different perspectives on the same thing is what we're here for.

That being said, fuck Skub.

Do you remember at our high school art show when you and Rice had a contest to see who could hide the most penises in a piece? Who won?

Rice had a gift that I couldn't compete with. Please don't talk about this any further.

Hi Nicholas! I just wanted to tell you that I think the quality of The Perry Bible Fellowship is incredible. The amount of work you put into the writing and the art is apparent in every strip. I introduced your work to my roommates a couple years ago and now they both own the almanack. We have a soft spot for Elite Fleet, especially Part 2. Can we hope to see any more in the future?

Thank you, Mr. Dino. I've had some real good laughs talking about some sequel ideas with my friends. Rebecca is tied up with Stephen Universe. If we do more, we'll have to push the "reused footage" thing to the hilt.

Did you see what someone did to your Cave Explorer comic!?

http://pigroll.com/img/cave_explorer.jpg

Whenever someone shows me this, I wonder why the artist changed the color of the man's shirt.

Not bad

actually, bad.

Do you draw everything on paper and then scan it, or have you gone fully digital?

This is the only strip I haven't physically drawn: http://www.pbfcomics.com/167/

Did someone just say "weeaboo?"

I think I just heard someone say weeaboo

WEE-A-BOO!

WEE-A-BOO!

WEE-A-BOO!

yep, you guys are definitely saying weeaboo.

How is it that you've had a Reddit account for two years that you otherwise have not used?

Followup: Are bananas actually good for you or are they an empty food like iceberg lettuce

I ate two bananas yesterday. I actually wondered whether it might be too much potassium. I don't know. In answer to your first question, I set this Reddit account up to get in on an AMA that was happening a while ago (Pete Docter's, of PIXAR). Maybe I will use it more often now.

Do you have any pre-PBF comics that you'd consider sharing?

http://imgur.com/7qAllJK

This is the first "comic strip" I did while at Syracuse University. The section that I drew was a parody of an SU strip I disliked at the time. I had my buddy Dan draw the other section. This ran on in the DO's comics page, amongst a page of strips, in 2000. The effect was surely more interesting there.

Let me do a gmail search...

You get into a fistfight with the guys responsible for Cyanide and Happiness. Who wins?

Rob is too sweet to be a good fighter. I'd mess him up pretty good. I think the other guys would be frightened and confused by the sight of this. I'd probably end up jail, so I'm not sure if anyone really wins.

Hey Nicholas, love your work.

Of all the Easter eggs you've hidden in your work, which is your favourite?

I think you can see Baskins (http://www.pbfcomics.com/256/) having a temper tantrum in the background of this comic: http://www.pbfcomics.com/257/

http://www.pbfcomics.com/230

WHY?

I'm not sure what strip that was. I know I took down a few of them because I thought it would be nice if people buying the book got some extra treats that the internet didn't offer. No offense, internet.

Are you prepared for people who will ask you questions about religion instead of comics?

i adore talking about religion. one of my favorite topics

Just wanted to say that I'm a big fan of your comics. Did you get inspired by The Far Side? Because your comics remind me of it. Any chance of more comics in the future? Thanks for all the entertainment!

Love THE FAR SIDE. Huge influence. I think I liked it even before I understood the humor- round the age of 8. Probably because it was different. Sparse use of googly-eyes & exclamation points. Gary Larson was some kind of funny pages Buddhist. He invited you to look close. To look too close. He put the emphasis on situations and motivations. Larson could draw a chicken on a hill, and it would feel like a lonely creature in a strange world. A lonely creature in a strange world has me laughing already, cause that's me! He might have been my introduction to humor where you laugh as much at the artist as the characters themselves.

I'll post a new comic strip on Monday if it pleases you.

I would be pleased.

http://www.pbfcomics.com/265/

Would you have space-sex with Zarflax?

to level the playing field, I would go down on her

i'm a huge fan.

i think bee is the funniest comic strip in your archives. the expression on that kid's face when he's clinging to his mother as the dentists optometrists menacingly advance...

it puts me in mind of watterson; he drew expressions like nothing else, that was so much of his magic. that one strip, where calvin sasses his dad, and dad turns to mom for support and instead of the united front she's just... cracking up. she's slouched down in the sofa, legs spread, heels drumming, hand on head cracking up.

i've long forgotten the joke, or the strip, but i'll probably never forget that perfectly captured expression of pure hilarity.

the look of confused terror on that boy's face reminds me of that.

i hope you keep drawing until you draw one better, and then keep drawing until you best that one too.

Not sure if there's a question here, but I'm gonna reply to it because you've compared me to Watterson.

have you ever come up with a concept you just couldn't execute ?

My friends and I spent a significant amount of time pitching an over-the-top Anime Saga to Adult Swim. I did a good amount of animation for it, but I think we may have needed a million more dollars. The guy we pitched it to laughed his ass off, but he may have been laughing at us.

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast on a Saturday morning?

is this Zach Weinersmith plug bait?

I thought about it after I posted it; but in hindsight I'm going to say yes.

He seems like a cool guy. I've never met him in person though.

What is your reaction to other web comics that are obviously ripping off your comedic and artistic styles?

we are all one entity, moving toward an evolutionary singularity. i should just get used to it.

good answer, i've never seen 100 monkeys theory brought up so subtly.

i also like seeing comics/writers that can deal with thieves or "parallel development" with grace and dignity, so good job.

"if you're good, there will be people that are similar. it's just math. there are 7.5billion people on the planet, somebody has probably thought of my tickle-cell anemia joke before me." - me, but probably someone else, too, because no thought can mathematically be 100% original.

I'm gonna find one.

Hi Nicholas. Is the Instant Bacon comic inspired by real-life events?

Thank you for your time.

Also pro-skub.

I'm sure in the history of real-life, someone has blown up a pig. Some of the pork-flack probably tasted pretty good.

ANECDOTAL FACTOID ALERT: When I was drawing that comic, I could not think of a 4th frame that could adequately follow the little guy waiting. Exasperated, I brought it to my roommate at the time, Evan Keogh. I'll never forget the delight that washed over me when he put his hand on the paper (covering the 4th frame) and said "you don't need it".

Is that a Shining reference in your proof photo?

it was trying to be a Shining reference, yes. Thanks for noticing.

Hi Nick! Big PBF Fan, and eager to see more.

If I remember correctly "GEE GOLLY JEEPERS" was sort of self reflective, and led to you moving away from the strip as to not be creativity painted into a corner.

With comics occasionally leaking out, is it something that you're not more likely to return to, or are you still trying to keep your distance?

I've been inspired by the vertical frame orientation I've seen in other webcomics. That's definitely something that has excited me about doing more comics in recent years- breaking out of that 3-4 frame space. A love of experimentation pulls me in all sorts of directions, however. I worked on a TV show for FX for well over a year (though it never got made). I'm pretty excited to do the Little Death book right now because I'll be in control of it entirely.

wassup?

hey man.

What's the best way to get a web comic out there for the world to see?

See if you can get your roommate to like it before you put it online.

Well, turns out my roommate's an idiot.

The next step is this: Imagine he's not an idiot, but a human being with a codified system of understanding symbols and ideas -a system which you can appeal to by clarifying your ideas.

So I go to ask him, "are you a human being with a codified system of understanding symbols and ideas?" and he sits there for a minute blankly and let's out a loud (I was mildly impressed) fart.

Now you need to just draw this whole exchange.

Nick,

I sent u an email like 7 years ago and you never replied. Why not?

My apologies. Do you still have the e-mail? If I see it, I could probably tell you why.

Nick,

What's your experience with psychoanalysis? Any insights to share?

I went to a psychonalayst last year to do some research on what it's like. I enjoyed it very much (maybe too much). In any case, it was ultimately too expensive.

Thanks for your answer!

Follow-up Q: What got you interested in the first place?

Psychoanalysis is detective work for the soul. We all have really good reasons for feeling how we feel.

Did someone say 'Weeaboo'? Because I'm pretty sure I just heard someone say 'Weeaboo'.

I'm pretty sure you just explicitly said Weeaboo. Twice.

what do you think about the appropriation of that word to describe anime junkies?

The correlation between the appropriation, the comic strip, and its true origin is sublimely meaningless. The word "Weeaboo" comes from a dream my sister had- in which a large room of Victorian-era people were shouting it at her, repeatedly.

Does she like anime though?

my older brother does.

Why did you stop drawing for so long?

Was wrapped in TV land for more than a few years, working on what felt like a dozen different projects.

How do you develop an idea? How many drafts does a 'script' go through?

The more comic strips that exist in the PBF repertoire, the longer the gauntlet an idea has to run to enter existence. An idea can sometimes spend 3 years or more in a sketch pad before I see something new in it. If the draft for a comic exceeds 10 versions, it usually just dies. Whenever this happens, you can count on some element of that strip ending up in another strip at a later date. My faith in comic strip "life after death" is one of the few things that makes me OK with this process.

Where is Sgt Grumbles?

he's in that great big canopy in the sky. Seriously, he's still there eating honey (not dead)

Given the success of the PBF collections through Dark Horse, what advantages did you see to using Kickstarter for your current project?

I investigated self-publishing for a while, to avoid the tortured conscience I get from having the Almanack printed in China (sans environmental standards). Breadpig (my current publisher) is super flexible and author-friendly, if not author-servile. Working with them has been great. Kickstarter is just the way they like to do things.

Hey Nicholas,

Huge fan here ever since I found out about you about 7 years ago, and I make anyone check out your genius work at any opportunity - so much that in my undergrad I would get my old students to look at your comics before our weekly tutor sessions.

Beyond just saying thank you for putting out intelligent and artistically creative comics, and how excited I am for notes on a case of melancholia (which I already pledged), I just want to ask where you draw your inspirations for the content of the comics. I can tell you have a cynical, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, and I am just wondering if any specific comic artists or authors inspired that.

And, if I can ask another, was there any factor that influenced PBF having such a variegated artistic style? I know you have your own style interspersed in there, but many of the comics seem to hearken to other styles. Just wondering if this was a choice, or more of a symptom of just wanting to not limit yourself?

Thanks again, the strip today was a great surprise, and I can't wait for future work

I could make a list that contains The Simpsons and Monty Python and The Far Side, but I've come to think I might be inspired by a childhood spent drawing with my friends and siblings, sharing pieces of paper, and delighting in the effects of colliding worlds and ideas.

This might also account for varied styles.

What is your relationship with Sylvio Bernardi (the gorilla)?

third cousin by marriage

you can see "Scorpy the Forest Friend" on the fridge in his latest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJFyl1PFA7U

Will there be any more Trails of Tarnation?

I would love more Trails of Tarnation. Not sure if the stars are aligned for it though.

When are we going to see some new Big Play films?

Got a number of them almost done, Mr. Geoff. I'm kind of a 1-man studio at the moment, so it's a little bit difficult. If I receive any excess funding from the Kickstarter after the printing is paid for, I would gladly put it toward getting some more short films off the ground. (animators: [email protected])

Didn't you get your start with the Daily Orange in Syracuse?

I actually started there as a journalist. I was pretty proud to have written a front-page article my first week at school. None of my friends read it though, so I started doing work where I knew they would look (the comics page)

Are you an idiot?

Often.