The following is an interview with cartoonist Rupert Kinnard regarding the Kickstarter campaign launch for the collection, Ooops…I Just Catharted!: 50 Years of Cathartic Comics, in collaboration with Stacked Deck Press. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Kinnard about the experience of revisiting his body of work, what readers can anticipate in terms of backer rewards, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congrats on the launch of your Kickstarter campaign! As you look ahead to the combined collection, what has been your experience in revisiting your body of work?
Rupert Kinnard: Being in a position where I have been forced to revisit my work in a way that I have never reviewed it has been mind-boggling. I don’t feel as if I had ever viewed it as a cohesive whole and it has been very rewarding and enlightening. The most impactful aspect of the whole experience has been my realizing that I have dealt with certain subject matter that had clearly never been tackled within the panels of a comic strip. FBI agents actually mistaking a dildo as an explosive device; Clarence Thomas being slapped into believing instead of wanting to be a member of the Supreme Court, he would rather become a member of The Supremes; The Brown Bomber claiming that the Mayor of San Francisco must have the hots for him because the Mayor shows up at all the gay events that BB attends; BB and the Diva commenting on the newly unveiled White Straight Male Privilege adventure ride at Disneyland…and many more absurd situations are presented within the pages of Ooops…I Just Catharted.
BD: Throughout your time on Cathartic Comics, your work has provided salient satire and commentary on current events. What do you feel is the inherent value of satire in storytelling and especially the sequential art medium?
RK: I think it is more likely that people can experience a “Hmmmm…” moment about a serious subject when humor is involved. There is a need to be pithy and to point out the irony of any given situation within the panels of a strip. It has been a challenge to tackle so many serious subjects with some degree of humor but the secret has been to expose hypocrisy and highlight any degree of irony to be found within any given news item. I have great admiration for the cartoon artists who are capable of presenting biting commentary within the confines of one panel, with a caption. With the first couple of Brown Bomber strips published in college, I tried the one-panel approach. I could not get the hang of it. I ended up becoming more comfortable with the four-panel approach, because I appreciated the storytelling aspect of it, rather than the one panel strips that seemed to be more single statement oriented. I ended up enjoying developing a “punch line” at the end of a 4-panel strip. The value in telling a story within those few panels is simply being able to present a beginning, a middle, and an ending to almost create a mini-fable. To also make a point.
BD: In revisiting your work, was there anything new or intriguing that you took away from the material that you hadn’t anticipated when originally creating it?
RK: I noticed things like lettering changes, denser art, and the issues tackled in the strip became increasingly complex. I definitely believe that I had no idea that the strip would be as cathartic for me as it became. I was also very interested in sharing that way I saw the world through my eyes as a Black American gay feminist-inspired male. It was a bit of a revelation to me to take in all the strips and experience and overview of it all. I wasn’t aware of how many themes were revisited time after time—the number of times I presented my own world, as the creator of the strip, as being in upheaval and the number of times I paid homage to other cartoonists and included the names of friends in various storylines.
There were a few times that critics described my work as containing “gentle humor, subtle and good natured irony.” I didn’t understand that point of view until I was able to sit down with strip after strip and then I felt the overall sense of the strip coming through. I felt like I had succeeded in containing my anger and frustrations about so much of what was happening in our American culture and, in my desire to make people actually get my point, present my feelings in a way that was less threatening.
BD: What makes Stacked Deck Press the perfect home for this hardcover collection?
RK: Stacked Press has totally embraced the significance of the work… even more than I had. Tara has been dedicated to the collection of Cathartic Comics as being valuable in an academic setting. The commitment to getting the book unto shelves of libraries everywhere is something that I never dreamed of. I never even imagined the book being published in a hardcover edition! The moment I experienced her delight that the book was titled, Ooops…I Just Catharted! 50 Years of Cathartic Comics, I knew the Brown Bomber, Diva Touché Flambé, and I had found a home. There had been one potential publisher who seemed a bit leery about the title, which is admittedly a tad bit crass, and eventually passed on publishing it. Clearly, that would not have been the perfect home for us. Given that Stacked Deck Press truly appreciated the communities represented within the 275 pages of Ooops, it was definitely the place to be.
BD: Are there any specific backer rewards that you’re most excited about with the campaign and wish to share with readers?
RK: The idea of one of the rewards rings a particular bell for me. I am an avid fan of Alison Bechdel. Years ago, when she was mostly famous for Dykes to Watch Out For, I was envious of the fact that she had enough fans to warrant the creation and selling of refrigerator magnets. I had dreamed of a situation where there might be some way that B.B. and the Diva would make their way unto refrigerator magnets. I am most excited about the idea of folks wanting to own a B.B. and the Diva shower curtain and a folding fan!
Being a Cancerian—represented by a crab with claws—I tend to want to cling to pieces of art that represent my own creativity. The idea of practically giving away one of my original strips is somewhat problematic. But I have to figure that the ends will justify the means.
BD: Are there any other projects that you would like to highlight for our readers?
RK: I had been working on the creative endeavor of my career—The LifeCapsule Project for at least 25 years. I have ended up pushing that massive project aside to work on Ooops. I am hoping that the publication of this new book might pave way for a more detailed book of my life’s experiences.
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell readers who want to learn more about Ooops…I Just Catharted!?
RK: I would say that a large part of the thrill of having Ooops published is to encourage others to celebrate their own creative journey. I am also proud to have been able to infuse my art with social consciousness, and I have tried to share what has become known as my own personal survival techniques. My desire is to have created something that most people can relate to.
