Interviews - Bob Fingerman

On this episode of The Comics Alternatives Interviews, Derek talks with Bob Fingerman, a man who knows what it’s like to work for Minimum Wage. They discuss Bob’s decision to bring back this landmark series though Image Comics, as well as the task of pulling together last year’s Maximum Minimum Wage (also from Image). In the interview, Derek asks Bob about any autobiographical links between him and his protagonist, Rob Hoffman, and he tries to corner Bob on whether or not Rob’s recently divorced spouse, Sylvia Fanucci, will make an appearance in the new series. Bob refuses to be cornered. Along the way they discuss the challenges of building a devoted readership, Bob’s fascination with the apocalypse and zombie stories, his forays into racial/gender politics, the joys (and limitations) of explicit sex and violence, the comics mainstream and “that Bob Fingerman feeling,” and the creative satisfaction one gets from making Bill O’Reilly a mutated and despicable villain of a decimated cultural landscape. (Wait…doesn’t this actually describe the real O’Reilly?) So get out your back issues of Minimum Wage, refresh your memory on Otis Goes Hollywood, search for that lost copy of Finger Filth, and enjoy this conversation with one of the most incisive cultural observers in comics today.