“Let’s Be Friends Again”: comics’ ultimate answer to comics. (Part two)

The following is part two of my interview with Curt Franklin and Chris Haley of the webcomic Let’s Be Friends Again. Part one can be peeped here: http://msjacks.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/lets-be-friends-again-comics-ultimate-answer-to-comics-part-one/

Robin: Occasionally you veer away from comics entirely, like in the comic where you mash up Lost and Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It seems like a bit of a risky endeavor. Are people usually into it? Is it something you expect to do more of in the future?

"Dude" May 13, 2009.

Chris: People’s enjoyment usually varies based on if whatever we’re doing a strip on is something they have strong feelings about, whether that be comics related or not. The Lost/Bill & Ted strip you mentioned was pretty popular because lots of people like Lost and Bill & Ted, but I think only one person probably got the strip we did that was a “mash up” of The Third Man and Tupac. I think that one guy probably really liked it though, and for everyone else, hey, it’s free and there’ll be a new one about Spider-Man having a boner or something in another two days so it’s no big loss. I don’t think anyone has ever said, “This one makes no sense to me! I’m never coming here again!” Or maybe they have. I guess I don’t really know. I like doing the non-comic ones, but comics are really what we know best/have the most to say about.

Real-Life Chris (l) and Real-Life Curt (r) doin' Real-Life Thangs. Photo by Joey Miller of interrobangphoto.com

Robin: How much of “you” is the “you” in the comic? For example, I’m intrigued by the fact that LBFA Chris is single, while real life Chris is not.

Chris: They’re both as little or as much like us as any particular comic calls for. I mean, we did one strip where “Chris” was obviously a wreck over the fact that a girl he’d been dating had left him. We’d never made any reference to him having been going out with someone previously, even though they’d been going out long enough for him to be really upset about it. Then Muppets came in. I mean, it’s just comics. I love Calvin & Hobbes, but Curt hasn’t bought a tiger to maul me (yet) either, and no one makes too much of that. “Chris” went on a date with a Republican in one comic and I can’t imagine ever doing that. I don’t draw a bunch of tattoos on “Chris” because that would be a pain in the ass and it’d probably look a mess, but the real me and comic “me” both think All Star Superman is best thing ever. We did another comic about “Curt” trying to comfort “Chris” when he was going through some “things” and that was at a time when I actually was going through some “things”, and that comic was sort of the real Curt’s way of telling me the same thing, and that was comforting in real life. I guess what I’m saying is it can go both ways if a comic calls for it, but no one should take anything that happens on our site too seriously. Plus everyone knows that “Curt” and “Chris” are gay together. Just like real life.

Curt: I feel an advantage in making “Curt” an asshole because I’m not going to hurt my own feelings making him do something that’s terribly shitty. So, for me at least, it started like that. Most duos usually have complementing personalities, like one’s a bit more aggressive and one passive, one has a sense of humor, one doesn’t, etc., so I knew I wanted to give “Curt” most of the bad qualities and “Chris” most of the good ones. It was pretty simple. I wasn’t necessarily going for opposite personalities, just complementary ones. And, in that sense, the strip is similar to real life. We do pretty well at complementing each other. I work very quickly and messily and Chris is very meticulous and precise. I don’t take anything seriously and Chris takes things very seriously. I am handsome and he is very ugly. You know how this goes.

Robin: It seems very meta, this idea that you are creating characters and commenting on comics through them, and therefore the whole thing kind of comes full circle- you are leaving yourself open to being parodied, as well as poking fun at yourselves much of the time. ‘Let’s Be Friends Again’ is a great example of culture commenting on culture itself. What do you think the implications of that are? Do you think it gives you a little more power in your ability to send something up?

Chris: I think we are very much looking forward to seeing parodies and slashfic and Rule 34 stuff based on LBFA. For all we know that stuff may already be out there on 4chan and we just haven’t been told yet. So yeah, I think the fact that we ridicule ourselves (whether it be making fun of something we really do/think or using the characters of “us” to poke fun at people like us) does give us a little more breathing room with people when we point out something ridiculous about something they like. This wasn’t really what you were asking, but there is also this other aspect (for me at least) to why we have created these versions of ourselves that exist outside of our “real” existence that involves the way fiction is not only it’s own reality, but can influence reality. It’s basically an escape plan from this universe into immortality. Didn’t see that answer coming, did you?

Robin: You are starting to blow up big time, even though you’ve been on the scene for less than two years. You’re making comic convention appearances and everything! As Spider-Man has taught us, “with great power comes great responsibility.” How much do you think you are changing culture, and in what ways?

Curt: I really wanted to be flip about this and say something about molding culture to my sensibilities, but I’d like to give a serious answer. The one thing I’d like to inspire in people, if anything at all, is the ability to criticize the things you love. Chris and I love comics. We love Geoff Johns, we love DC and Marvel comics, we were both raised on and partially by comics. We owe so much of our lives, our personalities, to comics. And I know these are very serious things to say about fucking comic books, but I’m sure Chris would agree with every word I’m saying. But we see the stupid things that comics companies do, we see when a writer isn’t really trying, we see when an artist cuts corners, and we want to say something about it. We know comics can be better than that. And we’re not necessarily criticizing in an eloquent way, but I do think we’re doing it in a unique way. With jokes about wieners.

Chris: Pee holes, dick pills, pussy tears, it’s all very important and serious. I do agree with everything Curt said though, we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think comics were the pretty much the best things ever. I can’t imagine working this hard at making fun of something I didn’t love.

Let's Be Friends Again Vol. 1: Under Pressure

Robin: Tell us about the comic volume you recently self-published, Let’s Be Friends Again Vol. 1: Under Pressure. Why did you choose to self publish it, rather than shopping it to publishers?

Curt: In all honesty, I think our stuff would be a nightmare to shop to publishers. That’s coming from an amateur publisher, though, so I don’t know for sure, but I only imagine a book with a million different licensed characters behaving very badly at times would not be anything most legitimate publishers would be interested in. It’s also nice not having to answer to anyone.

Chris: Curt says that, but we both have books on our bookshelves from major publishers that would be in the same legal parody/fair-use/satire area as our stuff. I’d like to think that eventually there will be LBFA books from a real publisher, and Curt and I will discover that being published by a real publisher will have a whole new set of headaches we couldn’t have imagined.

Robin: What’s in store next for real-life Curt and for real-life Chris?

Curt: Well, this summer I know for sure we’re going to Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC June 4-6, and very possibly San Diego Comic Con whenever the hell that is.

Chris: We’re trying to go to as many of these things as we can, because we always have a great time at them and meeting people in real life and having them say, “Oh! It’s you guys! I love your comic!” is pretty hard to beat. Oh, except for when they say that and then give us money instead of saying that and then walking off. The version where they give us money beats the other way by a little bit.

Robin: What are your goals for the rest of 2010?

Curt: I’m hoping to re-design our site, have a functioning store with a plethora of items, get our second book out, and continue to make comics that people enjoy. Let’s see how well that goes.

Chris: What he said. I hope people continue to want to be friends with us in the way that involves them reading our comics and high-fiving us at shows. We’re just going to keep having fun doing what we do and working as hard as we can. We’re never going to win the Nobel or anything, but making someone laugh makes their day a little better and that’s something worth doing.

Buy Under Pressure at Amazon.com, or at your local comic book shop, if you’re lucky. Check out http://www.letsbefriendsagain.com for biweekly free webcomic enjoyment. Much thanks to Curt and Chris for being truly awesome guys and a blast to interview, as well as for having impeccable grammar and spelling.