The newest entry within the Megg & Mogg sequence, Werewolf Jones & Sons®: Deluxe Summer Fun Annual by Simon Hanselmann and Josh Pettinger, is obtainable now! If you haven’t already, you possibly can learn The Beat’s full evaluate right here.
To have fun the discharge of Werewolf Jones & Sons®, The Beat bought the chance to meet up with Hanselmann and Pettinger over Zoom. We requested all concerning the origins of their team-up, the duo’s collaborative inventive course of, and whether or not or not we are able to stay up for future annual-style releases!
This interview has been edited for readability and size.
AVERY KAPLAN: Josh, how did you come to be concerned within the franchise?
JOSH PETTINGER: Yeah. Well, me and Simon turned web mates through the pandemic. He’d seen an interview with me in Bubbles Zine the place I discussed some British comedies like Blue Jam and Brass Eye that Simon was additionally into. So we had frequent pursuits. I used to be already a fan of Simon for the reason that Tumblr days. We turned mates on-line. And then finally, he moved to California (the place I used to be dwelling) from Seattle, and we simply began hanging out and finally drawing collectively.
SIMON HANSELMANN: Josh, you stated “fan” from the Tumblr days? I believe I recall you telling me early on you didn’t like my work and also you thought I used to be a dickhead.
PETTINGER: There was an overlap. There was a protracted whereas through the Tumblr days the place I dismissed it as hipster a bit.
HANSELMANN: I’ve accomplished that. “Ah, I hate this, this is shit.” But then later, I’m like, “Oh, actually, I like this.” Yeah, I’ve accomplished this. I simply thought that was humorous. Yeah, fan from again within the Tumblr days… Fuck you, you had been, Josh.
PETTINGER: I believe in some unspecified time in the future, I reluctantly learn Megahex and I used to be like, “Okay, this is good.”
HANSELMANN: I gotchya. Yeah. I completely perceive that. “Ugh, what a vile hipster.”
PETTINGER: I imply, there was an image of you holding a knife. And I used to be like, “This guy looks threatening and hip.”
HANSELMANN: Yeah, I do not forget that edgy photoshoot. Some paper got here to my home, and I couldn’t be bothered getting dolled up and I didn’t wish to shave. So I simply posed like a knife on my desk. Like, “I’ll look tough and ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.” Very douchey.
PETTINGER: I used to be terrified.
HANSELMANN: I nonetheless do and stuff like that. I don’t know. You gotta threat wanting like a douche generally. It’s higher than boring. Douchey is healthier than boring.
KAPLAN: I’m curious how the e-book got here collectively. When did you resolve to undertake the annual format?
HANSELMANN: After the zines. Yeah, I’ll take that one, Josh. I imply, yeah, we’re gonna do zines for the Permanent Damage zine truthful. We simply needed to make a enjoyable zine collectively. It was straightforward to do Werewolf Jones. I stated to Josh, “Do you just want to do Werewolf Jones?” Because he’s this base unhealthy dad character.
Both bought unhealthy dads. I requested you Josh, “What’s your dad situation? Can you handle this situation? Can you handle it?” And you stated, “Yeah, yeah.” Just casually, confidently. “Yeah, yeah.” And I knew he was the man for the job. But we boofed out the zines, after which afterward it was like, “Oh fuck, let’s collect it up and color it and put it out with Fantagraphics and double our money.”
PETTINGER: Yeah, it began off very throwaway. We’re gonna make these fast issues for this present that’s developing so we’ve one thing to promote. But we realized, truly, these are fairly good, possibly begin gathering them. Do one other one after which accumulate them.
HANSELMANN: Yeah, why not? We wish to do extra of them. Change it up a bit however do extra of the annual codecs, with like Tedward and Megg and Mogg… Werewolf Jones & Sons® Presents, and do the completely different seasonal colours. It’d be enjoyable for us. Just cobble it collectively within the annual. It’s what I name the summer season e-book.
Yeah, Noah Van Sciver began placing out these skinny collections in the summertime, the place he’d have two books launched on the identical day. Just this ridiculous outpouring. Can’t market both e-book, gridlock for advertising and marketing, however he’s mad. He’s misplaced it. He’s psychological. Noah Van Sciver has misplaced it. You heard it right here first.
But I made a decision to ape that mannequin and put out this slim type of summer season e-book. Nice to have a e-book out yearly. It is likely to be the one annual we do, folks would possibly get upset as a result of they’re like, “Oh, I got there was an inference here that this would be happening annually.” But Josh and I’ll be like, “We’re working on other projects at the moment.” So they is likely to be dissatisfied.
No, it’s for cash as effectively. As I stated, you already know, we made the cash off the zines and offered all these, so how can we monetize this work additional and succeed at what we’re doing? And, you already know, have extra time to work on comics with our hire paid up?
PETTINGER: So yeah, it was fairly fruitful promoting these tales twice, wasn’t it?
HANSELMANN: It was, it was a shrewd enterprise, you already know, advertising and marketing factor within the library markets with Fantagraphics. You know, we couldn’t faucet the Barnes and Nobles or the libraries, however Fantagraphics helped us get in via the door. And yeah, horrible e-book, Werewolf Jones & Sons®. I do fear about it a bit.
It’s a squalid horrible e-book. We allowed ourselves to be offensive. It’s a Werewolf Jones e-book and it’s fairly horrible. I’ve joked earlier than that I would like the left and the proper to unite and cancel us so we are able to get huge gross sales. When Art Spiegelman went on CNN and he was vaping and consuming mango, doing one other Maus controversy. And Maia Kobabe have to be a millionaire at this level, with all of the controversy round Genderqueer.
And the story in there that I did, “Autofocus Jr.” That’s type of my model of Genderqueer in a method, enjoying with these tropes. And daring folks to come back for us and Streisand effect-boost our gross sales. We wish to go on CNN. We wish to go on Rogen. Anything that’ll promote books so we are able to pay for our hire and get our canine’s enamel mounted.
PETTINGER: Yeah, we wish to be on Tim Pool and David Pakman.
HANSELMANN: Yes, the entire breadth of every little thing and simply promote books. Controversy sells. We’ll see what folks consider this one. I felt unhealthy for Josh, dragging him onto this sinking ship. After I did Below Ambition, and now this Werewolf Jones e-book. I hope it doesn’t spoil Josh’s profession going ahead together with his Tedward challenge, which I’m very enthusiastic about.
PETTINGER: We’ve had some good suggestions. I’ve been studying Goodreads. People have been liking it.
HANSELMANN: I’m truly dissatisfied by the dearth of scathing evaluations. And the dearth of cancellation makes an attempt. This e-book, I assumed, was completely engineered to get us in hassle and get us canceled by a big selection of individuals, which I’d welcome with open arms and wallets. But it’s not taking place. I don’t know. I assume you possibly can’t engineer this stuff. That’s a lesson for me.
PETTINGER: I believe there’s sufficient on this e-book to love type of upset each the puritanical trad proper and in addition the large, heaving HR division that’s the left. I believe there’s sufficient within the e-book to upset each of them.
HANSELMANN: Yeah, so it’s a complicated e-book. That’s what I needed it to be as effectively. And I believe you too, Josh, after we mentioned it. Just be type of complicated. I at all times return to John Waters, simply that form of college of transgression. It was stunning to everybody.
PETTINGER: This may not have been true 10 or 15 years in the past, however I do suppose these days, there’s like an inherent worth in offense for offense’s sake. Which, it’s not your entire level of the e-book. But there’s undoubtedly a few of that in there. There was like slightly little bit of goading one another on to go slightly additional as we had been penning this factor collectively.
HANSELMANN: And additionally on the identical time, it’s aggressively unhappy as effectively. It’s simply extremely squalid and unhappy. I believe you must finish empathize with Werewolf Jones slightly bit when his spouse’s beating him. I ought to have put in some stuff about Werewolf Jones his father. The concept of [upcoming book] Meg’s Coven is to indicate the place he got here from and why he’s like he’s. And folks may need a little bit of sympathy for him regardless of him being a whole monster. Yeah, it’s a difficult e-book. I hope it will get on the banned e-book checklist.
That’s what Josh and I hope. Or it’s utterly milquetoast, and we’ve misjudged the entire state of affairs. It’s identical to a humorous e-book and other people like, “Oh, that was quite good. That was funny.” And simply, we had been wanker-ly considering all these lofty, silly tradition conflict ideas and making an attempt to recreation cancellations. Egg throughout our faces. Perfectly completely happy to simply accept that.
KAPLAN: What type of inventive oversight (if any) did Simon have relating to Josh’s contributions? Do you even focus on the tales beforehand?
PETTINGER: Yeah, it’s Simon’s characters, so there must be approval. But there was nothing that didn’t get approval. It’s simply form of like, I write one thing, Simon reads and goes, “I approve.”
HANSELMANN: I saved a great eye on him.
PETTINGER: It’s simply whether or not it will get fun or not. If I used to be writing one thing that didn’t make Simon chuckle or wasn’t humorous, I believe could have gotten, “You know, this is no good.” But I believe simply so long as the factor is humorous.
HANSELMANN: I believe I gave you one notice, on the bunkbeds one. On the spit recreation. I simply stated, “Make it longer.” Yeah, the primary draft was a bit shorter. So I simply stated, “Just draw it out a little bit more.” And you didn’t inform me to go fuck myself. I used to be anxious that Josh would upturn the desk and simply inform me to go fuck myself. Because he’s a proficient author in his personal universe.
It’s bizarre getting somebody on your franchise. I’d labored with HTMLflowers on the opposite Werewolf Jones spin-off stuff. And he’d accomplished stuff. And it labored very equally to that. I imply, I used to be simply working with a good friend. And then afterward, I labored on Josh’s Tedward character for a cut up zine, as a result of I assumed it’d be enjoyable. Because he did Werewolf Jones, now I wish to do Tedward. And that was actually enjoyable.
We simply workshopped concepts collectively. Josh did some stuff on his personal. I gave him like, “I’ve got this story, maybe you could tackle this and like, write the middle and the end of it and sort of finish it,” it’s enjoyable. Josh is an analogous age. We each love The Simpsons, and simply that old fashioned, that author’s room sort comedy. So I don’t know, Josh, do you get pleasure from fantasizing you’re in a author’s room? It’s enjoyable making an attempt to impress one another and simply work on these items collectively.
PETTINGER: Oh, it’d be good to have an enormous whiteboard. If you ever noticed Six Days to Air, the South Park documentary. I bought numerous wishing I used to be in that author’s room, you already know?
HANSELMANN: Yeah, we preserve speaking. I preserve saying to Josh, we gotta begin writing screenplays. Just writing, simply concept era. Getting the whiteboard, like Josh stated. You know, it simply seems enjoyable. Because I imply, it’s simply Dungeons and Dragons, isn’t it? It’s skilled, suburban Dungeons and Dragons. It’s hanging out collectively and writing tales. But as an alternative of going dwelling to have a sleep you promote it to HBO. It’s like barely extra superior Dungeons and Dragons.
KAPLAN: How collaborative was the method for the weather, the e-book that you just every did symmetrically just like the reversible mud jacket or the endpaper art work?
PETTINGER: Simon has extra expertise designing bigger books. So he took the lead on that. And he can be like, “Here’s my cover.” And simply despatched me his cowl. And I attempted to attract one thing that I assumed would complement the opposite facet.
By the time that stuff was taking place, I’d moved away from LA to Philadelphia. It was much less like in-the-room collaboration and extra simply sending information and chatting concerning the e-book on the cellphone.
HANSELMANN: Felt just like the pandemic yet again. Isolation. I stole the reversible mud jacket concept from a Lemony Snicket e-book. Remember A Series of Unfortunate Events? I used to be blown away by that after I was youthful, “Double reversible jacket, there are two covers.” It’s clean house again there, why not put it to use? And Josh can flip it round in Barnes and Nobles like, “Look, Mom, my book.”
We put the large large Fantagraphics emblem on the entrance of the jacket, which was a joke for one man. It was only for Frank Santoro, who continually rails in opposition to the Fantagraphics rebrand. I agree with him. There are like 20 volumes of Donald Duck after which immediately, quantity 21 has a unique emblem on the backbone. Collectors had been infuriated. And I perceive. They ought to have simply saved the FB on there. But anyway, there was a foolish joke on the quilt. A ridiculous e-book, actually. Another ridiculous e-book the place I’m enjoying with hearth and like, “What am I doing? I need to get serious.” And I drag Josh down with me. I’m so sorry, Josh. I’m so sorry.
PETTINGER: I adore it.
HANSELMANN: And you adore it. He loves it.
KAPLAN: Is it doable you’ll return to the annual format in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later for different characters? Or can we anticipate additional formal experimentation?
HANSELMANN: Well, yeah, we stated earlier that we wish to do two extra colorways of those comedian zine annuals. Then we may accumulate these, Josh. I imply, if make two zines and bang in a 3rd zine’s price of stuff and simply monetize it once more, as a follow-up. We may do it via Kickstarter. I’ve accomplished the maths, and Kickstarter can be way more profitable for us than working with a standard writer, at this level. With our personal infrastructure and our fan base, who we are able to instantly talk with.
PETTINGER: Yeah, we did the Summer Fun Annual after which we did the Autumnal Grievance Spectacular. So the OCD artist in each of us needs a spring and a winter e-book.
HANSELMANN: Green spring and a white winter e-book.
PETTINGER: So then if we find yourself doing that, why not make it a e-book and double our cash?
HANSELMANN: But who is aware of. We’re working… Josh is working on his Tedward stuff, I’m working on my Megg and Mogg zombies factor and Meg’s Coven and a bunch of different stuff. We’re cranking away.
We wish to do a newsprint anthology collectively. We’ve bought different zines we wish to do. So many issues. Our manga chat YouTube channel, we’ve simply relaunched, we’re going exhausting with that. We’re gonna get new hosts in and do all this Masterclass-type informative stuff about how one can pay your taxes as a cartoonist. Just story writing and simply making an attempt to encourage folks and get folks enthusiastic about comics and what we’re doing and what they’re doing and what they could possibly be doing. And simply, a optimistic drive for the choice comics group.
We’ve bought numerous irons within the hearth. And that’s not even half of it. There’s all of the stuff we are able to’t discuss. Just cooking away. Comedy barons, the Commonwealth boys.
KAPLAN: Is there any upcoming initiatives or any ongoing podcasts or different initiatives that you just’d wish to particularly plug?
PETTINGER: Ici Meme editions simply put out a French assortment of my sequence Goiter.
HANSELMANN: It’s obtainable already?
PETTINGER: For pre-order. It collects Goiter two via eight. I even have a brand new zine out known as Warm Television, the third within the Tedward sequence. And that’s about it for me.
HANSELMANN: Warm Television is a banger. I’m excited for Josh’s French e-book as effectively. It’s thrilling as a cartoonist once you get your worldwide collections going. I bear in mind after I bought my first French assortment. You’ll get Spanish subsequent hopefully, Josh. It’s good to get these little royalty checks yearly and get the little advances. It’s pretty. Maybe get a visit out of it.
PETTINGER: Yeah, yeah. I’m working on the Spanish one proper now.
HANSELMANN: Yeah, that’ll be good. I miss touring, however I’ve bought my kiddo. Yeah, effectively, why don’t I plug… I’m going to Short Run in November. Josh might be there as effectively. Doing an artwork present with Alex Graham. Love Alex Graham. Have to plug The Devil’s Grin. Her e-book sequence is fucking superior… Go and decide up The Devil’s Grin.
I’ve bought a French artwork e-book popping out with The Mansion Press gathering all my work all through the years, Hypnotic Midday Movie. That’s thrilling. Yeah, preserve forgetting I bought an excessive amount of stuff popping out. The second problem of the zombie factor popping out quickly, working on that. Having enjoyable. Yeah, we’re simply cranking it.
The Werewolf Jones & Sons® Deluxe Summer Fun Annual! is obtainable now.
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