The last two years in my personal ballot for artist of the year, I ranked Sean Gordon Murphy at #1 and #4 respectively. Last year he wasn’t #1 not because he wasn’t great in 2011 – he was, as he crushed his tenure on an “American Vampire” mini-series – but because he had less material and there was just a crazy amount of amazing going on. But in 2010, with his work on “Joe the Barbarian,” he forced me to make him my #1, and with “Punk Rock Jesus (issue #2 out tomorrow!), he’s appearing to do the same thing this year.

I’ve been getting a ton of these interviews in, and the fact of the matter is people love this guys work. Critics, artists, fans, whomever – the guy is just a flat out amazing artist. He’s also one of the more intelligent guys in the industry, and we recommend his regular postings on his Deviant Art page. But that’s enough. Today’s Artist August featured creator is Sean Gordon Murphy. Join us as we talk about how PRJ came together, how it affected his religious beliefs, what working with Karen Berger has been like, and much, much more. Thanks to Sean for chatting with us, and good god people, buy “Punk Rock Jesus.”

Can you look back on your life and recall the single moment or work that made you want to work in comics? Or was it more of a natural progression that led you here?

Sean Gordon Murphy: I was really into the Image Comics movement of the 90s when I started giving it serious thought–I was probably around 14 at the time. And at some point I remember hearing about the insane money those guys were making. It wasn’t until I was in college when I heard about the “comics crash” of the 90s (after I’d stopped reading). The amazing rates that made me want to do this professionally weren’t there anymore, and I was about to graduate.

Who or what has influenced the development of your art the most?

SM: My big three influences are Jorge Zaffino, Sergio Toppi, and Bill Watterson.

Your DeviantArt page isn’t just a place to share art and connect with artists, you’ve really turned it into an outlet to give real insight into the way you work and think, and you’ve developed a very responsive and eager fan base because of that. Well, that and your art. Was that something that just happened naturally, or did you always want to do a little something more with that community?

SM: I was never afraid of speaking up, and I always liked writing essays, so I wrote lots of small blogs over the years. When I started getting more attention, I gave serious thought to ending my journal posts because they were creating a bit of drama.

But then I realized that I had a lot of valid information about what happens “behind the curtain” in comics, and that information wasn’t worth anything unless I shared it. Especially for students, that stuff is really helpful. Even if people don’t agree, at least they’ve considered what I’ve had to say–and that’s all I really want. A lot of people will call me a soap-boxer or a big mouth, which doesn’t really bother me. If I upset 10 professionals and help one student, then it’s worth it.

Personally, I love your DA page if only because of the refreshing honesty that constantly pours out of it. Do you ever worry that posts like your recent one that openly wondered why artists are so slow or, my personal favorite, 5%, could rub people the wrong way and drive them away? Or is that even a consideration?

SM: Thanks for taking the time to check them out! It wasn’t by design, but the journals have helped me in a lot of ways. And the few people who get upset are overly sensitive anyway–they’re not the type of readers I’m after.

A book like Punk Rock Jesus isn’t the kind of book that gets produced by someone who’s afraid of upsetting people–I think it’s just in my personality to make a stand for things I believe in, whether or not it’s popular. There’s a ton of constructive advice on how to be a successful artists in comics–why not have one voice that’s deconstructive? And that’s all I’m trying to do: break down these misconceptions by being blunt and unromantic about it.

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I think the theme that many might miss from your missives on DA is that fundamentally they are all thoughtful, proactive, and highly positive about the potential of the art form. They read as a person who loves comics who just happens to see a lot of things wrong with comics in general. With that in mind, do you feel like comics are on the right path overall?

SM: Thanks! Some folks don’t view them that way, but my hope is that even when I get off topic with those journals, people will still understand what I’m getting at and see that I have the best intentions. And when I’m wrong, I get called out, but it’s pretty respectful. I don’t hide comments from people that disagree.

I’m not sure if comics are on the right path, but there’s reason for hope. The thing that seems to be hurting us–digital–is the same thing that could save us, ironically. The music industry went through the same thing: record labels lost a lot of power while iTunes made it possible for the little guy to get his foot in the door. What happened to music was bad for METALLICA and U2, but good for everyone at the bottom.

Maybe Marvel and DC are METALLICA and U2.

For you, how does your experience as a creator differ if you’re working on something for-hire like American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest, rather than something creator-owned like Punk Rock Jesus?

SM: The pay is different, that’s for sure. Because I’m not being paid for the script and because I’m making less per page, PRJ is paying about half as much as any other DC book would.

And I’m not complaining AT ALL. I’m thrilled with my PRJ deal and am banking on what it might do for me in the future. You never know how projects like these pay off.

In the same vein, when you’re writing the scripts to Punk Rock Jesus, do you feel like you can take shortcuts in the writing because you know the art will do the storytelling in certain parts? Do you find that scripts you yourself create differ greatly than the ones from, say, Scott Snyder or Grant Morrison?

SM: My scripts are much less wordy than a normal script. I write as sparsely as possible because, like you said, I know what I’m going to draw and I don’t need to go overboard.

I actually read that a lot of what you learned about writing came from movie scripts. How do you find that that background has influenced your comic work?

SM: My take on comics is that they’re more like movies than anything else. You have all the space in the world when you’re writing a novel, but comics (like movies) are edited down to its bare essentials.

Movies are heavily edited because they’re expensive to make, and viewers can only sit still for 90 minutes (that’s the theory behind a 3 act structure anyway). Comics are edited heavily because drawing takes time, and no one wants to pay me to illustrate something that’s not completely necessary to the story.

The “less is more” editing is something I really like because it forces you to be effect in as few words/panels as possible.

The first issue of Punk Rock Jesus just came out recently, and the response was incredible. Creators were raving about it, reviews were extremely positive, and it even trended on Twitter higher than The Walking Dead. Were you surprised about the response it received? How satisfying was it to finally get this book in people’s hands and to have them appreciate it so?

SM: I’m overwhelmed by the response. I expected mediocre sales on the issues, but then for the trades to do better once the word-of-mouth advertising got around. I never expected to trend higher than The Walking Dead or SDCC.

Doing PRJ meant spending a lot of time in my own head. And when you do that, you run the risk of not seeing problems. So I had my friends, my wife and my editor comb through it and make sure that I wasn’t too far off the reservation. I had (have) all kinds of doubts. Is PRJ really worth all my time? Is the story crap and I don’t know it? Wouldn’t I be better off doing a mainstream book?

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Now my biggest worry is keeping the momentum going. Issue 2 is a bit slower, but issue 3 really takes off. Hopefully people can hang in there.

Was there any part of you that was worried about some sort of backlash simply because of the controversial subject matter?

SM: Yes. While the response from both Christian and secular readers has been overwhelmingly positive, there’s always a chance that someone might start something online or even at a convention. The book just came out, so I imagine the worst is still to come.

From what I understand, PRJ was originally meant to be an OGN instead of mini-series. Did any difficulties arise in breaking it up into issue form? Do you feel that the change in format affected any storytelling techniques you employed?

SM: My editor helped me overhaul a lot of the script so that there would be appropriate issue-breaks. It wasn’t easy, but the heavy editing was helpful. A lot of my original the scenes were unnecessary and some characters would go on and on, so Karen helped me fix all that.

Karen Berger worked on this with you, which is awesome in its own right. From what I understand, she doesn’t work on a lot of individual projects any more – a smattering, but not many. It sounds like she helped a lot in terms of fine-tuning the project, but for you, what has it been like working with someone who is such a legend?

SM: Karen is the one who really brought me into Vertigo, so I owe her everything. The flagship titles are usually handled by the other editors, so when something new comes along that peaks Karen’s interest, I think she prefers handling it herself. At first it was nerve-wracking being under the watchful eye of such a powerful editor, but then I realized that having Karen on my side was my best form of protection. As long as Karen is happy, she’d fight for me. And that’s how Punk Rock Jesus got approved–we’d built a solid relationship over the past few titles and she decided to gamble on me even though I wasn’t known as a writer.

You’ve been working on Punk Rock Jesus for a long time. From what I understand, it started brewing in you back in 2003. How have your experiences, both professionally, working with the aforementioned highly gifted writers, and personally, changed this project over the years?

SM: Professionally, working with Morrison and Snyder was the best thing that could have happened.

Morrison helped because Joe the Barbarian raised my profile. But Snyder was a bigger influence because with him I’d found a style of scripting that closer to how I liked doing things. He’s so good at hitting the right beats and giving the reader enough of payoff per issue–that’s something I try to do as well.

From what I understand, the origin of PRJ stems from something you were putting together previously, an IRA story titled “Kael.” I also read that, in the process between “Kael” and writing PRJ, you went from being Catholic to being atheist. Was the experience of crafting those two stories and the exploration of religion tied to them a major impetus for that change in you, or was it unrelated?

SM: The reverse is true: the religious change in me was the impetus for changing the stories around.

One of the things that struck me about the first issue was just how real it felt. 7 years from now, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if something like this actually happened. As a creator and artist, what do you think the believability of PRJ’s concept says about where we’re at as a society?

SM: It’s funny, but there are 3 comments I hear over and over about PRJ: 1) people love the low-grade paper stock, 2) people see this as a “Vertigo is back to being Vertigo, finally!” and 3) people are surprise by how believable the story is.

The truth about cloning is that we can clone humans NOW. The process isn’t perfect, and there might be some trial-and-error (the failed clones in Aliens: Resurrection is what it might look like), but we’ve been able to do it for a while now. There might be a human clone alive right now that some billionaire created of himself to inherit his own fortune, only no one knows about it yet.

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PRJ’s art is black-and-white throughout. How did you decide to go that route? Was that always in the cards, or did it just work out that way?

SM: I always prefer B&W, but there was a communication problem and I finished three issues thinking it was going to be colored. In the end, it worked out well in B&W. And the shitty paper stock helped the

“indy” vibe of the book.

Books like Punk Rock Jesus, to me, are reassuring as to the viability of comics as an art form. That they aren’t just the stereotype about comics, but something so much more powerful and thought provoking. To you, what do you perceive as the biggest roadblocks to comics being appreciated on a wider scale as more than just boob windows and large muscles?

SM: I think PRJ is the kind of book that reviewers love to love. For exactly the reason you just mentioned, PRJ-type books attempt to raise the bar and show the world comics aren’t just superheroes. And I’m not saying that PRJ is a great book–it might still flop, and issue 1 might still be a fluke, and I might suck as a writer. But the fact that DC agreed to do it? That deserves a round of applause all in itself.

Comics get a bad rap because the stories are often redundant, characters are wearing underwear outside their tights, and the dialog is usually over the top. Even though we should be getting a big boost from the movies, the sales don’t usually reflect that.

It’s obvious to most of us why comics aren’t accepted, yet we’re stuck in a insular cycle of continuity and superheroes that we can’t seem to get out of.

You mentioned how thankful you are that DC/Vertigo agreed to release Punk Rock Jesus. I’m curious: what’s the story with how it ended up at DC/Vertigo? I know you’re DC exclusive, but did you always visualize Vertigo as the home for PRJ?

SM: I had a version of the script done before I signed on with DC in 2007. Karen read it, passed (but said she’d consider it again later), and asked if I’d be interested in other Vertigo work. I knew it was a great opportunity, so I put PRJ aside looking to build my name up with Vertigo. Once Joe was finished, I planned on doing PRJ. She offered me a few titles afterwards, but I turned them down because I wanted to do my own book–I felt the PRJ was perfect for Vertigo, but a book about Jesus is a hard sell, so I wouldn’t have blamed them for passing again. At that time Didio and Lee had taken over, so she pitched it again and they agreed to do it because they specifically were looking for 90s Vertigo type stuff.

So PRJ was given the green light–but only if I did American Vampire first. I love Snyder’s writing, so I agreed.

Who are your favorite artists working in comics today?

SM: Too many to name. Off the top of my head, Dan Panosian, Dave Johnson, Jordi Bernet, Sergio Toppi, and Jerome Opena.

From what I’ve read, you have gigs lined up with names like Snyder, Mark Millar and John Arcudi to follow PRJ. So, the million-dollar question after the first issue of PRJ dropped is this: what’s your follow-up? What will see next from you?

SM: I can’t say. If PRJ continues to do well, hopefully a sequel one day. But I’d love a chance to hook up with all three of those writers.