DILRAJ MANN:
DALSTON MONSTERZZ
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FUTURE-ROCKER: The book has a distinct homegrown flavour, while also paying homage to a host of influences from around the world, such as Miyazaki, Charles Burns, Los Bros Hernandez…
DILRAJ MANN: I like all of those guys, but I also like newer stuff that’s more simplified and cartoony. I really like this manga called Bakuna Young. I like the idea of trying to create these really gorgeous women, but also these really ugly other characters. Drawing some perfectly, and then doing others that are really a bit wrong and anatomically incorrect.
Jack Kirby was a bit like that. He used to take liberties with his figure-drawing, and it was all very kinetic and explosive.
Yeah. He used enforced perspective, whereas I’m trying to make it fairly staid. I like Adrian Tomine, the guy who did Summer Blonde. What I like about his stuff is that a lot of it is normal conversation - there’s nothing particularly popping, and that’s genius. I really like the idea of having that, but with a really fantastical element. I read a lot of things, comics in particular, and it’s all very exaggerated, everyone’s hyper-excited…
Lots of exclamation marks…
- And I don’t really go for that. I wanted it to seem like a kitchen sink drama.
Why did you set it in Dalston? What was the attraction?
We moved to Dalston in 2003, when the gentrification was happening, and they were building Dalston Junction and the flats around it, and so it was like a building site, there were cranes and stuff everywhere.
So when you see cranes, you think money is being invested.
Yeah, and everything was changing quite radically. And I thought that because they were disrupting the surface so much, I had this idea about woodlice crawling from under a rock, and that’s where the idea of the monsters came about. These creatures were pouring out of the ground, but they weren’t intelligent. They were essentially more like dogs, and kids were able to harness them and control them.
A bit like Godzilla in a way. Weren’t those guys out of the ground?
Godzilla was to do with nuclear testing, so I suppose in a way they used that social and cultural thing that occurred, and manifested it in Godzilla, and I’m using monsters to comment on gentrification, and how they were coming out, disturbed by this change. So I wanted to discuss all sorts of things.
What else might have been an influence?
I really like Joe Sacco’s work, Palestine and all that. But at the same time, if I had to name my top ten graphic novels, I don’t know that they would get in there, because they don’t fill me with joy.
He’s a great reporter, though.
Yeah, very much so. And I wanted to have an element of information and social commentary, but I also like the idea of looking at things, and being entertaining and bit a bit preposterous and fantastical.
The book itself feels ‘physically’ substantial - there’s a tactile quality to it that’s reminiscent of books we used to have as kids.
In Europe, books are like that for adults and for kids. I think that whole kind of crossover is very much what ( publishing company ) NOBROW attempt to do. That whole binding was all to do with NOBROW.
( Looking at the cover ) I love the graphic design, the picture and then that hard yellow band.
Initially, when it was first released, I went to Waterstones in Piccadilly, and they had it in their main foyer, and it was up on a shelf and it pops, because of the black and the yellow.
Very Hacienda..! So, is this part of an ongoing story cycle? Will there be further sequels?
I’m working on number two.
Do you have everything mapped out?
I read the George Lucas book Making Star Wars, and when you read this book, you realise the trials and tribulations he went through making the first film, because it was unlike anything that had been made before. When he was writing it, he wrote reams and reams of ideas that didn’t end up in the first film, but ended up in the entirety of the trilogy.
So you have tons of ideas lying around…
Tons of ideas that I was going to put into the first book, but when you start writing and doing the structure, you realise certain things won’t work, or might slow the pace. It’s quite a propulsive story, so I didn’t want to put too many elements in. But I’ve used some of those in the second book. I know the crux of the second one, I know the end, so they’ve allowed me to fill in the gaps here and there. I think people will like it.
When will it be ready?
Hopefully by next year. I’ve pretty much pencilled it, but also I’ve been doing a few other projects in the last month or so.
So you pencil it, and then ink it yourself?
Yeah.
And how do you colour it?
Digitally, in Photoshop.
If you had the chance, would you take on extra people to do all that stuff?
I think for Book Two I will. I know that NOBROW are fairly keen for me to speed the process up. The physical work of actually colouring things in takes time.
You have a very specific colour palette that they’d have to work to.
What I’d tend to do is block everything in, so that it’s within the ink line and all neat, and then I’ll tweak colours to fit a palette.
Would you ever illustrate another writer’s story?
I’ve worked with Leah Moore, Alan Moore’s daughter. It was a five page story in Black Crown Quarterly, a couple of years ago.
Did you approach her, or did she approach you?
No, Shelley Bond ( formerly second-in-command at DC’s legendary Vertigo imprint ) asked me to do it. It was fun.
As you worked in animation previously, do you ever imagine your characters animated, or will they always stay 2D on a flat page?
One of things I want to do, after I’ve done the second book and a couple of other things that I’m setting up, is pitch an animated show because I’ve got a really good idea that I think would work well in the late night Family Guy slot. I find that a lot of animation now is kind of like post-Simpsons.
I love The Regular Show and Adventure Time.
Have you seen Bojack Horseman? It’s a bit like Curb Your Enthusiasm. I think you’d like it. I used to love Ren and Stimpy. Yeah. I mean I would like to do something animated, and I think I will try and push my idea, but I want to not just do one project, I’d like to do a few different ideas.
Some bits of Dalston Monsterzz actually reminded me of Akira, for instance some of the panel progressions. They reminded me of the original Akira collected books, like Volume 3, when they had the bike chase. It was a very kinetic comic, you almost didn’t need word bubbles.
That’s all good. That’s top level.
I almost haven’t read any other manga because I started with Akira… So what have you been reading that you would recommend?
There’s some really good manga out there, like I said there’s Bakuna Young which I’m enjoying which is crazy and zany stylistically. I’m also reading Pluto at the moment, which is really good but very different. I’ve always like Tao Matsumoto.
Any old classics like Kirby FF’s or John Byrne?
I read Fantastic Four Visionaries by John Byrne recently and enjoyed it. I also read Homunculus by Joe Sparrow, which is a story about a girl and an AI.
'It's all about persistence.'
Do you listen to music when you’re doing your cartooning? When I read the book, I thought it would be fantastic to have a Grime soundtrack to it.
( Laughs ). Grime? That’s very specific. Well, I don’t know if you know, but have you seen the endpapers? ( Dilraj reaches over and stars to point out various things on the inside covers. ) Have you heard anything by Night Slugs? They’re amazing. Oh year there’s For Reals, Frank Ocean, The Time…
I spoke to Night Slugs, and Hattie Stewart and so on, about using their artwork. There’s a company called Doodad and Fandango and they created these earrings that are worn by my character Lolly, that are based on artwork by Camille Walala. So I got in touch with them and said I want to put them in my book, and most of the people I asked were really cool about it. ( Dilraj then goes on to point out a spot-the-difference between the inside front and back covers that hints at a subtle plot machination, but I’ll leave that for the reader to discover. ) Generally, though, I listen to music when I’m thumbnailing and inking, but not writing.
I can’t listen to anything when I’m writing.
If I put on Philip Glass or Steve Reich, I can kind of do it, because their music has a soundtrack feel to it. But actually my writing’s changed, in that now, instead of writing loads and loads of script, and editing and changing loads of drafts, I think now my writing process is essentially me drawing and writing at the same time.
Composing as you’re going along. Would you then fine tune it at the end?
I’ll quite often do thumbnails with little bits of text here and there, and then sometimes I’ll do a page and think ‘that isn’t quite right, but I’m going to let it go for now’ and then I’ll come back later and see how I can make it fit within the broader scene.
The book was very well critically received. That must be very satisfying because let’s face it, you have to put years in to be a really good comic artist.
Yeah you do. You have to keep going - it’s all about persistence. It’s nice when people like it, but at the same time, it’s not everything. I mean I want people to like it. I went to the THOUGHT BUBBLE festival in Leeds, and I had loads of people come over to me and saying ‘I loved you book’, or ‘it’s my favourite book of the year’ which is really lovely, and actually, that’s nicer than the critical stuff because it’s real people. But I try not to let it sway me in any way, in fact I probably think that I’ll try and take it somewhere else, in a direction they won’t have thought of yet. And also, because you’re thinking about this world all the time, it becomes this place that you go to and you know what is and isn’t possible, and what will maybe shake it up a bit, and what needs to shake it up a bit. So with the second book, I’m really introducing loads of new elements to it, and new scenes that are fantastical.
Would you say that when you’re writing, you’re not too present in the real world?
Yeah. When I’m doing it, I’m thinking about it all the time, and it’s hard to function in real life..!
But you’ve got kids so that must keep you grounded.
They’re disruptive ( laughs ), but that’s kind of like why I like working at night, because then I’ve got myself to myself.
What’s the latest you’ve ever worked?
I’ve stayed up for two nights. That was a killer, but I got loads done.
You must drink a hell of a lot of coffee.
I don’t drink coffee at night-time.
I don’t think I could draw for that long. My arm would seize up.
I don’t think I was drawing. I think I was making sure the text was in place and putting the together the final bits. But also, when I know I’m going to work all night, I do the drawing in the morning when I know I’m not completely exhausted, and then at night-time, when I know I’m flagging, I’ll do some minor things that need doing, but don’t require a great deal of concentration.
I noticed that in the first book, there’s a lot of panels which would actually make great framed art. Have you ever thought about doing an art exhibition?
I did one in Treviso in Italy.
What was that like?
They were very gracious hosts and they looked after me very well, and it was very well attended. The guys who organised it took me out and we went out to parties, got pizza, and everyone was really friendly. It’s not far from Venice, so I took the train and went there for a few hours too. But if you go to Italy, I really would recommend going to Treviso and making Venice a day trip. It’s made me want to get the second book done so I can go back!
So the life of a comic artist is not sitting alone in a room all day..?
No. Well, 98% of the time it is. But it’s worth the effort when you meet all those people that love what you do.
Lastly, has there been any movie, streaming or TV interest in Dalston Monsterzz?
I can't really go into details, but yes, there has. So watch this space!
