Jon Lewis's SPECTACLES: Interviews

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Spectacles Interviews

Wizard #68
Palmer's Picks
By Tom Palmer Jr.

Ask critically acclaimed creator Jon Lewis what his biggest challenge was in starting up his all-new series, Spectacles. Getting comfortable with new characters? Nope. Adopting new storytelling techniques? Uh-uh. Establishing a convincing tone? Not even close. Try learning to draw...cars. "I'm amazed that I've been able to draw a few cars that are at least recognizable for what they are," the 26-year-old Florida resident claims. "I always thought if I ever did a story about the real world I'd alter it in one way: there'd be no cars. Maybe I could have people ride giant snakes or something."

There's an obvious reason why Lewis feels more comfortable drawing humans on the backs of misproportioned serpen His first series, True Swamp, had a virtually human-free cast (Spectacles marks the first time that Lewis will devote himself to reality-based fiction). Lewis's debut series, which began in '94, lived up to half of its name by taking place in a swamp, but the stories were anything but true. The main character was a contemplative talking frog named Lenny who spent his time searching for meaning and dealing with the other denizens of the swamp. Even though he had slimy skin and liked to hop around, Lenny's struggles seemed oddly human, due in part to Lewis' skill as a writer.

With Spectacles, Lewis takes his introspective writing and applies it to short slice-of-life stories and the continuing story "The Frost Changes." This extended storyline interweaves Scandinavian folklore (Lewis', interest in the subject comes from his Norwegian heritage) into a narrative that has the meandering qualities and conversational tone of real folk tales. Like his earlier comics, the aforementioned True Swamp and the suspended Ghost Ship, True Swamp promises to be a fascinating read. Lewis', comics are so engaging because he has a fine eye for details that go unnoticed by most; like the early morning mist that blankets a city or the turning and smoothing of a paperback book page late at night. His cartooning achieves just the right amount of detail to evoke a familiar mood or setting without feeling too real or recognizable.

Lewis', distinctive storytelling depends a lot on his artwork. Spectacles has allowed Lewis to explore a new side of his artwork that was not apparent before. "With True Swamp I had much more of a sense that the artwork had to be very precise," he explains. "I tried to make the animal characters look consistent, at least to a certain extent. Since I've started doing stories with human beings as the characters, for some reason I've just naturally gone the direction of the artwork being more loose and the characters being recognizable by idiosyncratic characteristics. Animals are less familiar and therefore you have to do more to represent them on the page. I'm sort of thinking of my human characters as puppets . They're certainly not supposed to be representational. They're supposed to be very simple little contraptions that somehow evoke real people. I think that's a wonderful phenomenon."

Even though it seems like he has enough material to keep his new series going for a while, Lewis has moments of uncertainty of his future in comics. "I go through big phases where I think I should be a prose writer. I have a little bit of a natural drawing talent but it seems like everything that I get done in the graphic department is just sheer work; forcing it to look good, building it up from nothing. It seems like I never sit down and have these nice looking panels come out of my pencil. I always start from this ugly awkward thing and refine it laboriously, whereas when I write prose it's something that comes naturally to me."

Despite whatever doubts he may have, Lewis plans to stick with his craft. "I think I need both things [writing and drawing]," he says "I need that feeling of facility but I also need that feeling of real challenge and craftsman-like striving." Let's hope that he's challenged enough to keep making comics for a long time; the comics world will be that much better with more Jon Lewis stories to read and enjoy.

Jon Lewis's Recommended Reading

"Most of my favorite comics right now are being done by my friends, so they're easy for me to remember. I love The Sands by Tom Hart, and I really think people should check that out. I think Jason Lutes', Berlin is great so far; a really satisfying development and progression from what he was doing in Jar of Fools. King of Persia, by Walt Halcomb, was a great graphic novel which has a potentially wide appeal and a lot of charm. I also like the Trespassers by Joe Zabel and Gary Dumm, and Dylan Horrocks's Pickle is always one of my favorites."