Alan Nolan: The Interview

Continuing our series of Octocon '09 guest interviews, we speak to Alan Nolan, co-creator of Irish comic book sensation, Sancho. We discuss the the two other women in his life, waking his wife to the sound of scratching, and why you're not reading about “Pancho”...

Octocon: For those that don't know, you work as a graphic designer by day. Is it difficult to keep working in art such as comics, even after you've finished with work? Are comic books a different mindset?

Alan Nolan: Comics don’t require a totally different mindset to graphic design – every comic creator is constantly making design choices in regards to page layout, panel composition. I really enjoy the design elements of comic creation, the logo, the cover, the layouts, the lettering, even getting the files ready for the printer. Being a designer enables me to have 100% control over how the comic looks and, to be honest, the control freak in me loves that!

It can be hard though, finishing up on a hard day’s slogging over a hot Mac, and then getting back into drawing comics in the evening. I’m no stranger to late nights when there’s a comic on the go... I do my drawing at night but I usually write in the early morning, If I have an idea for a story in my head I’ll wake around five or so and think it through, while half asleep, then I’ll sit up and bug the hell out of my wife by scratching away with a pad and pencil, trying to capture my thoughts on the page. The whole process takes me an awfully long time, hence our breakneck production schedule of one Sancho per year!

O: What do you think it is that appeals to people about Sancho? It's been a hugely well-regarded comic book by any standard.

AN: Nice of you to say so! I guess it’s a set of fairly good stories, nicely presented. If Sancho is funny then that’s down to [Sancho co-creator] Ian [Whelan], my stories tend to be a bit more po-faced. What we try to do is come up with storylines which are pure horror and pretty creepy, then juxtapose that with funny dialogue and Dublin-ese mostly from the supporting character of Tom Frost.

O: How did Sancho come about? Was it a conversation between you and Ian that simply sparked it, or was there a lot of discussion about what you'd work on?

AN: Ian and I had being trying to get a comic together on and off for years. The closest we got was during the mid-nineties with a comic called Wasted which never saw print. It was an anthology comic with loads of different creators involved, and the main story was one I wrote and drew called Pancho, about a Mexican paranormal adventurer and set in 1890s Arizona. Probably just as well it never saw the light of day!

Ten years or so after that I went to the Comic Con in Bristol as a punter, and became very interested in the small press comics there. There wasn’t much of a small press “industry” here at the time, so it spurred me on to giving it a go.

I resurrected Pancho and came up with a storyline which was more contemporary and filling out his character making him an ex Roman Catholic exorcist priest who’s now a freelance demon hunter, and then sat down with Ian to go over the story and over it and over it again. The main change Ian insisted on was a name change from Pancho to Sancho (Ian reckoned Pancho was a loser’s name…)

Ian and I had worked on a load of stuff together over the years, from bands to theatre to film scripts, and aren’t precious about our own writing or afraid to make changes to each other’s! Ian is a fantastic director in both theatre and film, so he brings a very visual sense to his writing.

Since issue 1 of Sancho, we’ve collaborated on stories and written on our own, but we’ll always give each other’s script the once over.

O: Tell us about The Big Break Detectives, the new Irish language comic you're writing and drawing for RíRá.

AN: The Big Break Detectives (Na Bleachtairí Óga as Gaeilge) is a kid’s strip about three schoolchildren, Danny, Kate and Kate’s brother Little Tom, who attend St. Agatha’s National School and solve mysteries in their half hour big break. They have a secret hideaway under the school in a long forgotten sub-basement which is only accessible through the air conditioning ducts, and is full of outdated computer equipment, a bit like the Batcave for kids. Kate is the nominal leader of the group, Danny is the hurley playing brawn and Little Tom is great at undercover work, wears a fedora hat and a long multicoloured scarf, and is constantly offering people jellybabies. It’s a lot of fun for me as it’s a complete break from Sancho and it’s drawn in a much simpler style. It’s full colour as well and I love colouring! I’m working on the second strip of Big Break Detectives for issue 2 of RíRá and finalised the storyline only this morning in bed, with Rachel telling me to put the pad down and go back to sleep!

O: You never shy away from writing and drawing the darkest of humour. Is the darker stuff something you're drawn to?

AN: Ian loves the gory horror stuff, Korean horror, etc, but I’m just not that into horror movies. I’m a great fan of light horror literature like Stephen King and was addicted to James Herbert when I was a kid, but I like frights that I can put a bookmark in and put the hell down, I don’t like to be in the dark, trapped in a cinema seat with no escape! What a wuss. I spent a lot of time when I was younger reading up on the occult and the unexplained, anything in that realm interests me, so I suppose that’s where Sancho comes from. I like gentle creepiness and Ian likes visceral gore. And of course we both like Dublin-durty humour.

O: What was the last great comic you read?

AN: I’ve read it every year since it came out, so it’d have to be [Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's] Watchmen. Other than that I enjoyed The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (mostly for Bá’s artwork) and BPRD with Guy Davis’ fantastic art is a lot of fun. Also, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, although Moore lost me somewhat after Book 2. I’m not a great superhero fan and I always like to see the whole premise being taken apart or presented in a different way.

O: Last great book that you bought?

AN: Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. I can forgive him anything (including The Pink Panther) after reading that.

O: And the last great album, TV show, and movie that you bought, and/or watched?

AN: Album: The Breeders – Mountain Battles, Kim Deal is the other woman in my life.

TV Show: 30 Rock – Tina Fey is the other other woman in my life.

Movie: [J.J. Abrams'] Star Trek – Loved it, although the “red matter” ball did look like it was sponsored by Revlon.

O: Anything you'd like to plug?

AN: Just Sancho and the new issue of RíRá which will feature a cover by me as well as the Big Break Detectives strip. Ian and I are working on a new, non-Sancho project called The Red Death, but we're taking our time with it. Likewise, Davy Francis and I are taking our own sweet time collaborating on The Four Fathers. Details of all at http://alnolan.synthasite.com/

O: What are you most looking forward to at Octocon '09?

AN: Meeting Harry Harrison!! I've read all the Stainless Steel Rat series and loved every one!

O: Thank you, Alan. :)