Michael Fikaris Interview:

From VoiceWorks Magazine:

Michael Fikaris is a man on the scene, a tireless comics evangelist and rabble-rouser whose energy and enthusiasm has been a driving force in the Melbourne comics underground for a number of years. A prolific editor and publisher, his efforts as part of the Braddock Coalition and the Silent Army collective have resulted in high-water-mark anthologies such as Pure Evil and Silent Army Infirmary Collection, a number of group exhibitions and a general heightened level of public activity amongst Australian

ink-slingers.

He has also just self-published the 16th issue of his own Froth minicomic and has a split comic/record release with New Zealand's Stefan Neville in the works.

Michael is also a gracious host, and fed me lentil stew, weed and whiskey as we talked the talk in his Coburg kitchen. I don't want this to read like it's some kind of attempt at gonzo-journalism-type-bullshit, but the truth is, yeah, we were pretty toasted.

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So, why comics?

Why comics? Because they choose you, you don't choose them. I think someone searching for something needs to find something. The realisation that I had is that you can only do one thing well. Years ago I wanted to be a rockstar, then I wanted to be a famous scumbag nobody, like a skateboarder who had words of wisdom who could make someone's loungeroom look good over one night just by staying in it, to now just wanting to do comics. I think it was meeting people, finding something you could do with others. Even at school - Not to go back to school but comics are somewhat associated with

childish activity, and you've gotta admit, in Australia we are pubescent humans really, we're all so immature it seems - people would say they were in Fikaris's gang or something, and I think comics sort of suited that as well, to the degree that I need to be in a gang of people, like a group.

So you think you've got a good gang now, in the Melbourne comics community?

Not even the word gang, more a collective agreement that people are involved with something without having to be organised, they just had to relate to each other.

So it's the Comic Book Lifestyle that does it for you.

The lifestyle, that was it. That when you shared these things together, and you understood each other in an unspoken way it's a real beautiful thing, regardless of whether you're creating anything of apparent value or not.

I've come to the same conclusion recently, about stuff that I do, and how the most important part of any of it is the actual process of working with other people, learning from and about them. It's more important than whatever the end result might be.

Comics seem to be more, uh... intimate and personal than other forms of media-based communication, somehow... in terms of getting a sense of whoever made it...

It's a communication invoice. It's mostly found in good comics, hardly ever in anything else, where you can get such a clear idea of what it would be like to meet that person. You can't put a price on a good conversation.

You can't put a price on doing something for somebody. So receiving some

great work in the form of a comic and being fully impressed by it as a great conversation, or giving it on the the other hand is probably the ultimate, which is why I do it. Not thinking about what people want, but just thinking that this, what I'm drawing, when I finish it, will have value. Drawing comics itself is compulsive, but finishing it, giving it a name, reproducing it and sharing it with others comes down to that. Just hoping that it's

as memorable as a good conversation would be. It's about being a human being and knowing that you exist in this confusing generation of thoughts.

I used to do this thing, when I first started making comics, just taking them to parties with me, taking them out, "Look, two bucks man, you can have one." It wasn't about the two bucks, just the whole transaction and the idea that someone's got my comic at home tonight. It's worthwhile, it's that communication invoice theory kickin' in again, where I extend the conversation. Often you'll be at a party and it comes to that grind where you're stuck there, or social interaction isn't exactly what you'd want it to be. And comics can fully prop that up I reckon. I wish I did that more often nowadays.

The monetary thing's just so you can print another one. Sorta like doing push-ups after you eat heaps of junk food, you just know you've gotta balance it out somewhere. That's what the two bucks is.

You seem to draw a lot, pretty consistently. I've been thinking about drawing lately and how natural it feels, just that simple pleasure in the act of making, I don't know how people get by without doing it, or just making something, it feels so, uh fundamental to how I live my life...

It's human, it's almost like you've gotta do it, it's so natural to draw. It's like swimming or something, if you haven't been swimming in your life then there's something strangely amiss. I feel like you're missing something in your life if you haven't done a simple thing like drawing.

It's simple to draw, but why the fuck am I drawing? Regardless of how many people you know who say, "Hey that's really good" or even if you really like what you're doing, you still think that don't you? You're drawing but you're thinking "Fuck, why am I drawing?"

So drawing really is a compulsive activity for you then?

It's compulsive, definitely, just to draw every day. Nowadays I find myself thinking "I've just gotta draw this thing cos I want it to be better than the last one." I wanna make sure I keep doing stuff cos I know that's really important to me. But as far as I go, I draw so much it's not even like drawing anymore, it's like batheing, you know.

When you have the idea that people are gonna look at it, if just one other person is gonna look at it, then you've gotta think of that value to others somehow. That's the sticky part.

Do you make an effort to not think about the fact that people will be reading your stuff, while you're working on it?

Yeah, definitely. You have your own, uh, tantric methods with comic books where you just keep going and head your own way. For me a lot of it's smoking pounds of grass, and not even knowing myself while I'm doing it.

People say "Oh, that's not pure, you're not really drawing your true self," because you're under the influence of some kind of herb or medicine or whatever. But when I'm finished with what I've made I'm compelled to look at it differently and think it's interesting because it's not entirely my own, you know. I look at it and think, "Wow, did I do that man?" I love that feeling. You know, "Who did that? Who's that? I'll be looking for more

of this... Oh, that's right, I did that the other night." Not in a psychotic way, I knew I did it but I didn't know exactly how it would turn out.

But not to link marijuana usage with good work, cos that's not necessarily true either, it's just whatever works for people. I've seen a heap of good work that has nothing to do with drugs at all.

Got future plans for the Pure Evil series?

Greg [MacKay]'s mentioned it, and I kinda ummed and aahed. I reckon Pure Evil 6 is a good way to finish it. It just seems right, y'know, number six, it's beautiful. You know that there's no Pure Evil number two and there's no number four? They're all odd numbers, except for the last one. I dunno how it relates to the name or whatever, but we've still never done number two or number four, even though we advertised them. We never had orders for them - well, we did get an order but they didn't actually send the money. So number two and number four officially don't exist okay? So you know that, and maybe a few others do, and even those who are fans of the series probably wouldn't

even give a fuck. But if we got really desperate down the track and wanted to do another Pure Evil, we could just call it Pure Evil 2. What's the difference?

It's just wanting to make sure that everyone can get published, even on a small scale. I mean, look at what Zap was, a guy with a fuckin' pram full of comics on the side of the road dishin' 'em out. I'm not trying to say we're doing that, but in terms of our era, it's very similar. Pure Evil 6 was quite a vanity publication where we all knew we were doing it cos we were getting some money and we could do this thing straight away. We never

thought that we could sell them or whatever, we just wanted to see a book like that. A fuckin' hot, perfect-bound, full-colour wrap-around cover, 120 pages of just solid shit man. Twenty-five dudes just drawing stuff, whatever they wanted. That's a vanity product you're looking at. So many people who buy it, they just appreciate things that are made, and they wrap it up and barely read it or anything, just, "Look at this great book that I got!" and it'll sit on their coffee table for months or something.

And there's other people who are like "Well what am I s'posed to do with this? What the fuck is this? What is all this weird shit? Does it ring me up when I'm lonely? What does it do man?" It doesn't do anything. I don't wanna do another Pure Evil for that reason. I don't know how we could do it. We'd have to get some funding to do a big Blab-style thing, a real shiny coffee table book. That's the only logical step for Pure Evil.

But you're definitely up for doing more anthology stuff? It seems like a good way of continuing this kind of comics-as-social-activity approach that you have.

It's partly what comics are, just seeing your friends and talking about what you're doing. It's working on shit and knowing that at least a couple of people are interested. Not even that they're interested, but they know that you exist. That's part of it too isn't it? Certainly you felt the same, when you met people you started to do more work because you were just more excited about what you were doing. It was real. Not that you need it to be real. I dunno. It's the communication thing again. After talking to people about it you can go back to that comic, and by having a conversation you talk to yourself almost about what you're doing, then you can bring that into your work. Why you're doing it will come through in the work itself and that is merit enough, I feel. Yeah, making good work. Whatever that means.

Fuck. What is a good work? Who wants a good work? Interesting stuff. How's that whiskey? We need some more, tell you what...Maybe we should go and get, like, a couple longnecks.

You wanna get a longneck? I got some money in the bank but uh... I find

if I mix beer and whiskey I get a bit groggy.

A bit groggy?

Yeah, I'll feel like making music in about an hour.

You don't get angry do you?

No I don't get angry, I mean like groggy like I'm just like "Waaaagh Bwoy!" you know? Fuckin', "Let's play guitar! Whooooohoo! Let's feed the dog frozen doughnuts!" Something like that.

[Wolfie, Michael's dog, abruptly leaves the room]

The dog senses it. So what else? What are you gonna... Is this an article?

Do you wanna make it an interview like, you don't wanna try and make me seem intelligent, you just wanna try and make people think about comics.

Yeah, I've only got like, 1500 words, so I'll just go through it, pull out the best bits, splice 'em together...

Yeah...

...try and make us both sound smart.

Yeah!

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