Michelle Herbert chats with Monty Nero about Hollow Monsters…
If you are looking for new or semi-established ideas in the comics world, there is currently no better place to look than on Kickstarter. Whether this is from artists and writers who are looking to print their webcomic in volumes, such as Molly Ostertag and Brennan Lee Mulligan with Strong Female Protagonist, or comics anthologies where you get to see a lot of new talent, if you think you have a USP or a large enough fan following then Kickstarter may be the place to start looking.
Enter Monty Nero with Hollow Monsters, which is an ambitious story starting in 1982. I was able to talk to Monty about his new project:
Why did you decide to launch Hollow Monsters on Kickstarter rather than pitching to a comics publisher?
I wanted to do it entirely my own way, exploring themes and techniques that no publisher would be willing to back. It’s breaking new ground, see, in what it explores and how it explores it. Publishers don’t actually like that, they only trumpet the word groundbreaking after it becomes wildly successful. They don’t finance it, they capitalise on it. The first question they ask is “what’s it like?” and the second is “where’s the proven market for this?” Fair enough, but I wanted to do a graphic novel that really pushed the boundaries and didn’t pay any heed to all that.
How personal is Hollow Monsters to you?
Extremely.
What or Who are your inspirations?
Kate Bush. Just the way she does her own thing quite beautifully. Moshin Hamid, David’s Aja and Mazzucchelli, obviously, as well as Frank Quitely and Moebius. Artists that create in their own way to their own rhythm but do it a lot better than me.
You have just launched a Kickstarter for the next issue of Hollow Monsters, with mention that this is a graphic novel in 6 parts, so will all issues be launched this way with a further Kickstarter for the graphic novel?
I just want to make the story. Create the art, the lettering, the flow of panels and pages. At the moment, financing each chapter individually makes perfect sense. The script for the whole graphic novel has been there from day one. I don’t look beyond getting the story down with all the resonances that inspire me, and feel very lucky that the universe has aligned so that creators can make their own comics without selling their rights. It’s weird how few people are actually doing it though. Perhaps they don’t realise what a golden moment this is the history of comic creation. Imagine what Jack Kirby or Moebius would’ve done with crowdfunding? Mind-blowing!
SEE ALSO: Read our review of Hollow Monsters #1 here
Michelle Herbert
