Comics Alternative Interviews: John Porcellino

On this interview episode, Andy and Derek are pleased to have as their guest John Porcellino. Issue #76 of his long-running (twenty-six year!) minicomic, King-Cat Comics and Stories, has just been released, and the Two Guys talk with John about how different this issue is from his previous one. That issue, a heartfelt memorial to his cat, Maisie Kukoc, was more of a long-form story that may have expanded his audience. Andy asks John what readers who came to his work through issue #75 might think of the latest release, a more traditional issue of King-Cat Comics and Stories, and that question sets the stage for the rest of the conversation. Among the many topics John discusses in this interview are his processes of note-taking, the stylistic turning points of his career, his views on autobiographical comics, his experiences as a self-publisher and comics distributor, his philosophy of personal revelation, and the roles that music continues to play in his comics. In fact, one of the more interesting takeaways from the interview is John's understand of his zines as being analogous to record albums. He constructs them in the same ways musicians might pull together a two-sided LP. Along the way, Derek and Andy also talk with John about his book-length stories and collections, specifically Perfect Example and The Hospital Suite. This is an engaging conversation, one that is really a long time in coming for The Comics Alternative. If there is indeed a King of the Minicomics, then John Porcellino should be the one wearing that crown.