Pia Guerra is the award-winning co-creator and artist of the seminal Vertigo series Y: The Last Man. For those of you who are unaware of the title – it’s the story of a young man named Yorick (and his pet monkey Ampersand) who happens to be the sole survivor of a mysterious plague that wipes out every species on the planet with a Y chromosome. You can read the first issue online and for free here.

Pia’s work is deceptively simple. The characters act and emote with clarity and the reader always has a very clear idea of setting and environment. In essence – she is a fantastic storyteller. One who employs a frugal, but efficient line that I admire.

I met Pia very briefly at the Bristol comic expo in 2007 and she drew a quick sketch of Y: The Last Man character – Agent 355 – in my sketchbook for me (above) which was very kind of her.

Alex Fitch of Resonance FM show Panel Borders asked me if I wanted to interview Pia for this weeks programme and I, of course, said yes (before realising I’m not the most confident interviewer and such things make me ridiculously nervous).

We talked about Will Eisner and economy of line, her early years in the comic industry, working on Y: The Last Man, switching to digital, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, living and working in Vancouver, bondage, Dr Who, her future in comics, the state of the comics industry, and working with her husband Ian Boothby.

The result will be broadcast today on Resonance 104.4FM at 5pm (London only) and streamed at www.resonancefm.com.

There will be a podcast available to download an hour later for those who miss the live show (which will also have some extra content that had to be cut due to time). I’ll update this post with a link to that when it’s up.

Update: The podcast can be found here.

It’s been quiet on the blog here but I’ve been extremely busy working on a number of things. One of which, I can now talk about…

Solipsistic Pop is a new anthology of alternative UK comic artists that I have been preparing for a few months now. I wanted to create something similar to RAW!, Mome, Sturgeon White Moss, Kramers Ergot and the comics issue of McSweeneys – something that would give some of the amazing small press work out there a platform. Those of us wanting to create alternative comics in the UK don’t have a whole lot of options when it comes to publishers so this seemed like a perfect way to kickstart something that I think most people interested in comics would like to see.

With the carefully picked contributors busy working on their comics for the first volume (due for release in November), I’ve been preparing the website and working on my own contribution. Here’s the logo, PR, and self-portraits of the artists involved:

Solipsistic Pop is a biannual anthology designed to spotlight the best in alternative Comic art from the UK.

It features diverse, beautiful, twisted and peculiar Comics that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. Comic artists old and new are encouraged to contribute. Solipsistic Pop intends to provide a support structure and outlet for UK alternative Comics.

Each book of Solipsistic Pop will be a boutique, tactile product. An interactive, unique artefact designed to suit the content of each edition with an extremely limited printrun.

This website will be updated with previews of artwork from the first book, essays, news and related live events.

Book one arrives November 2009

The website went live last week with a manifesto that I wrote with Matthew Sheret which was written as a brief statement of intent for the anthology and for what we want to see from comics in the future. For many creators and readers of comics, the points will be blindingly obvious but it felt worthwhile and useful to gather our thoughts about the state of comics like this.

Some people will undoubtedly get rubbed up the wrong way by it. That’s what manifestos do. Obviously it is intended to provoke debate but I genuinely agree with every single point on there. The manifesto is not attempting to dictate what anyone should write or draw. Rather, the manifesto is intended to be inspiring – to urge people to feel that there are no rules to creating comics and that we should reclaim the term from those who would have us be embarrassed by it. Anything that is rejected or denied by us is specifically designed to open the possibilites – not reduce them. It’ll sadden me if people read it differently but I imagine I can’t do much about that.

The manifesto and announcement of the anthology aside, I’ve been working on a new eight page, full colour comic for the anthology called Special Guest Appearance. It is my first proper attempt at fiction and I’m really excited about how it’s coming together. Here’s a sneak peak: