Rachel Bellwoar chats with Meredith McClaren about her graphic novel Meat Eaters…
Adulting is hard enough without having to adjust to being undead at the same time. Such is Ashley’s fate in Meredith McClaren’s graphic novel, Meat Eaters. Here’s what McClaren had to share about the project and Ashley’s newfound hunger for meat:
For fans of your work on Black Cloak (where mermaids have never been scarier), a horror graphic novel seems like a natural fit. Have you always been a fan of the genre?
Meredith McClaren: Ha. Yes and no. I think I was scared of EVERYTHING as a child. Scary movies, scary stories. I couldn’t even LOOK at a Stephen Gammell cover without breaking into a cold sweat. But at some point I flipped and just started consuming it non-stop. Starting with television like Buffy and ghost hunting shows. Then moving on to CreepyPastas and the NO SLEEP podcast.
These days, I’m still real easy to startle, but ghost stories are a nice background noise for bed time.
With Meat Eaters, the horror starts with the cover. Did you have any trepidations around choosing such a bloody first image and what made you ultimately decide to lean into the gross side of horror?
MM: Everyone I’ve talked to has said that the immediate drawing point of the book is the cover, so that’s a sign we made the right choice.
I think everything I proposed for the cover was equally disturbing on some level, but that one does lean into the gore part more. I like that it clearly advertises what you’re in for. I wouldn’t want this mixed up with any other kind of book.
Whereas Black Cloak takes place in a fantasy world, Meat Eaters takes place in the real world where monsters exist but most people don’t know that. What interested you in telling a story where Ashley has to keep her supernatural identity a secret?
MM: I think it made sense because a lot of what Ashley’s dealing with were issues she was holding close to the heart. She’s a very isolated person at the start. She doesn’t have a big social life. She doesn’t really answer to anyone at home. Her problems are hers alone and not to be shared. This extends to both her environment and later her supernatural condition.
But also, I just like the idea that there’s always something a little ‘extra’ just barely skirting the edges of our world. I like stories that let me believe I could find something extraordinary if I just stumbled right.
Ashley gets mistaken for a zombie a lot, but she’s actually a ghoul. Was there ever a moment when you considered making Ashley a zombie or were you always ‘dead’ set on ghoul?
MM: 😉
I was always set on a ghoul.
The fast answer is, zombies, as pop culture knows them, do not carry any sentience anymore. And that would have made for a very different story.
The more in-depth answer is that people think they know the rules for zombies already. There’s always going to be movies that skew the rules a bit. 28 Days Later made them run. Land of the Dead let them retain the repetitive motions of their lives. But for the most part there’s already a familiarity to what criteria zombies meet. At least in the western world. And I wanted something a little more ambiguous. Something where the audience could, like Ashley, not know what the norms are.
Also, it’s fun to keep poking ‘zombie’ jokes at Ashley’s expense.
In choosing a ghoul, do you feel there were more opportunities to play with the look and mythology of a ghoul?
MM: There’s a lot of rich history in the folklore of ghouls.
In high school I went on this big personal project to categorize all the different kinds of undead around the world. I told myself that it was all research for a big epic story, but ultimately I didn’t get past the initial info spiral.
I had a big world map though, and different pin colors for each kind of undead. So there’s definitely a lot of lore I could delve into and bring to the table. But the same can be said for vampires, werewolves, and zombies too. The western context of these ideas is just one conception of what are really pervasive ideas. Almost every corner of the world has some kind of iteration of these creatures.
I also like the idea of not being totally clear with the audience, and even the characters, what kind of boundaries the creatures of Meat Eaters are working with. Like, yes, you never SEE the vampires out in direct sunlight, but nobody actually directly says it can’t be done.
I feel like its truer to life to have these fuzzy edges than hard fast rules.
Throughout the book Ashley’s friend, Motley, keeps trying to do the things she’s been told are fun by TV and being disappointed. Would you say that’s a situation you can relate to?
MM: VERY MUCH SO.
I spent a lot of my teen and young adult years looking at the media I was consuming and comparing it to what was true to my actual wants and desires of life. And there was a big schism. It caused a lot of strife because I was constantly looking at these franchises and characters I loved and wondering ‘why don’t I want what I’m supposed to want?’
Honestly, I find myself struggling with this even now. We’re now bombarded with more stimulation than ever about what life ‘should’ be like. How we’re ‘supposed’ to look. What we’re ‘supposed’ to like. I thought I was past it, but I always catch myself slipping back into the mindset.
But yeah. Motley is, for the first time, reckoning that maybe what she was sold was a lie. Or if not a lie, not a truth for everyone.
A lot of books focus on the high school experience. Why did you specifically want to look at the transition period of turning 19 and being an adult (technically) but not feeling like one yet?
MM: It’s the first point in your life where you’re expected to figure stuff out on your own. And nobody is ready for that.
Moreover, it’s impossible to do.
The figuring out everything, that is.
It never stops. And nobody ever really gets it.
You can say that again. Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Meredith!
Meat Eaters is on sale now from Oni Press.
Rachel Bellwoar
