By Johnny Ray Huston
Lots to enjoy about Eric Haven’s The Aviatrix (Buenaventura Press, 32 pages, $4.95): killer anteaters, male masochism, surveillance run amok, a tiny but buxom beauty named Protona, a large monster named Melgor, noxious human odors that might even make George Kuchar blush, and a truly imaginative mind taking advantage of the kind of hilarious and radical shifts in perspective that can only happen in the frames of a comic strip. In conjunction with the appearance of a Haven comic in this week’s Writers Issue, I recently asked the Bay Area resident about his characters, his interesting day job, and his past connection to this rag.
SFBG You have a long-ago connection to the Guardian. Can you tell me the details?
Eric Haven Almost exactly 20 years ago, I entered the Guardian‘s annual cartoon contest. I won first place in the “best comic strip parody” category, and was quoted in the accompanying article as saying, “I hope to be a professional comic book artist by the time I’m 24!” or some such nonsense. I was incredibly naive and thought I could make money with my comics. Ha!
SFBG What books and artists did you like growing up, and today? What are your favorite B-movies?
EH In terms of comics, I was a Marvel zombie growing up. I would pick ’em
up for 10 cents each at a used bookstore in town. Their covers were torn off but I didn’t care… I could go in with a couple bucks and come out with a stack of comics.
Nowadays I tend to read stuff by single creators… not produced by a system which divides the chores among writers, pencilers, letterers, and colorists. I’ve recently enjoyed reading Prison Pit by Johnny Ryan, the “Sulk” series by Jeffrey Brown, and The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book by Joe Daly.
My favorite B-movies are ones where you can see budget constraints. Attack of the Crab Monsters, It Conquered the World, The Colossus of New York, etc. If it looks like the creature was cobbled together in someone’s garage, out of spare parts and supplies found in the attic, and then shot in someone’s back yard, I love it.
SFBG Tales to Demolish seems to cover any range of time and place, from prehistoric eras to present-day Oakland. Are there particular settings or periods you prefer rendering or are you drawn to drawing all manner of realms?
EH I enjoy rendering weird topographies, whether it’s ice-strewn glacial sheets or ancient dinosaur-infested forests or the wilds of my own kitchen. I’ve recently become obsessed with the history of Upstate New York, and have begun work on a comic which has many pages devoted purely to its geography and geology.
SFBG If the Aviatrix came across and read The Aviatrix, what would she think and have to say? How about Protona — what would her view of the book be?
EH The Aviatrix is well aware what’s going on, as I feel her looking over my shoulder when I draw. Who knows what she thinks? She’s inscrutable, unknowable. Protona would wonder why I drew her so tiny.
She’s actually not that small… close, though.