MCR Interview with Erik Campos Part 2 of 3

This is part 2 of a three part interview held December 27, 2008 for the Laurie Blog Show on MidToon City Radio (MCR)

LB: Welcome back, everyone. This is the Laurie Blog Show on MidToon City Radio, 35 minutes after the hour, and we are back with Erik Campos, creator, producer and main character of MidToon, the first democratic comic strip in the world. Welcome back, Erik.

EC: Thanks.

LB: In the first segment of the show you made some striking comments about the Peanuts comic strip, and you said, and I quote: “Don’t even get me started with Garfield”.

EC: I knew you would bring that up…

LB: Erik, what is your take on Garfield?

EC: I don’t like it.

LB: Can you elaborate?

EC: Sure. I think Garfield, with all due respect to the fans that I’m sure it has, has been exploiting the same joke for years. The cat sleeps, the cat eats, the cat plays practical jokes on the dog, Odie, the human, Jon, doesn’t have a clue, the cat sleeps, eats, you get the idea.

LB: But don’t you think it is funny? If you find a formula for success, is it wrong to stick to it?

EC: Sticking to a formula is all right with me, but sometimes you can take it to the extreme. Look, one thing I don’t like about comics is how they fire the actors when they become too old to play the character. I have seen the early Garfield, and he was meaner and bigger that the one we have today. Obviously at some point, they fired the old cat and hired a new one. And this is not only in Garfield. Archie, one of my favorite comics, has replaced the entire cast more than once. Recently, they fired all the actors, and hired new ones.

LB: Tell us about your comic, Erik. Are you saying that you are not going to replace your actors? What will you do when they grow old?

EC: Make old jokes, I guess. I think I will keep the comic based on Midtoon instead of me. Look, when I graduate from High School, why would I want to keep playing a high school student for the next 20 years? I want to go on, learn new things, move to my own place, hopefully get married to a nice girl, you know.

LB: What if you move out of Midtoon, let’s say to study? Will the comic follow you?

EC: That I can’t say now. The comic is a democracy, so it will be up to the voters.

LB: That’s interesting, and it brings me to the next point I wanted to discuss with you. Tell us a little about the democracy part of your comic. How does it work?

EC: My comic strip is more like a reality show than a sitcom. Up until now, you had a comic strip bringing you a fixed story. You would love it, hate it or love to hate it, but besides that, and sending hate mail to the editor, there was not much you could do to alter the course of the strip. I intend to change that. My intention is to have at least one poll, and sometimes more than on the blog and the results of the polls will help shape and define the strip.

LB: I am looking at the blog right now and there is a poll up. It’s about what facet of Midtoon we are more interested in. May I vote?

EC: Sure, as long as you vote before closing date.

LB: Okay, I’m interested in the love life of the characters. Okay, here we go. (pause) Oh, look the results are up. My choice is winning!

EC: Congratulations.

LB: Does this mean that your next comic will be about the love life?

EC: Not necessarily. Look, there are two things we have to keep in mind. The answers to the polls will have an effect in the direction of the comic, but that effect may not be immediately apparent. First, there is a delay from the time a comic is made and the time it is published, so what the polls may be asking will have bearing on events later on. Second, some polls will call for a direct answer, such as a yes or no question. When that happens, the answer may be clear. Some others, like the one up right now, are less specific and point to a general direction rather than a particular action. So, judging for the results as I see them right now (at the time of this interview the poll still had 12 days to close) people seem to be more interested in love life humor, but they also want to see social, school and home humor as well, so this tells me that we should follow all those, but put special emphasis on the love life.

LB: So, sometimes the answers will be more direct than others. What will you do if people say a character should do something but their dream is to do something else?

EC: We have to keep in mind that this is reality comics. There will be events that will unalterably be shaped by the voters, but let’s say that there may be cases when the characters may choose to act against the will of the people. I think this is one of the issues with democracies, isn’t it? We vote for someone to do something, but they may or may not do it. The good thing is that if a character is going against the will of the people, the people have a way of taking some action and “voting them out of office”.

LB: Even you, Erik? Can you be voted out of office?

EC: I would like to say no, but the comic is called MIDTOON, not ERIK, so I guess the possibility is there that if people don’t like me, I may be ousted.

LB: Let’s wish that does not happen.

EC: Of course.

LB: Well, Erik, it is time for our break again. When we come back, we will be taking some more phone calls from the public and answering some of their questions. This is the Laurie Blog Show on MidToon City Radio. More of our conversation with Erik Campos after these short messages.

End of part 2. Stay tuned for part three of the interview, coming soon

MCR Interview with Erik Campos

This is part 1 of a three part interview held December 27, 2008 for the Laurie Blog Show on MidToon City Radio (MCR)

LB: Good Morning, everyone. This is the Laurie Blog Show on MidToon City Radio, 12 minutes after the hour, and oh boy, are the phone lines ringing! This is because we have a very special guest today. With us, is Erik Campos, creator, producer and main character of MidToon, the first democratic comic strip in the world. Good Morning, Erik.

EC: Good Morning, Ms. Blog, it is an honor to be here.

LB: Please call me Laurie. Erik, any words you would like to address to your fans before we open the lines for questions?

EC: What fans?

LB: Oh, how humble! Come on, Erik. We know that the phones are not ringing off the hook for nothing. You have an established fan base all across MidToon.

EC: You are too kind, Ms. Blog. I mean, Laurie.

LB: Erik, tell us a little bit about your venture. What gave you the idea to make a comic strip?

EC: Well, you know how sometimes something happens to you, or to someone you know and you say, gee, I think this should be in a comic strip?

LB: Not really, but continue.

EC: Well, in my family, it happened a lot. I found myself saying that over and over. You may say that I live in a funny family.

LB: Tell us about your family, Erik.

EC: Well, my father, John Campos, is a lawyer and works as a legal advisor to the mayor, so you have some political situations right there. After he divorced my mom, seven years ago, he married the former Mabel Snyders, who is now my step-mother, and you may say she is the smarter half of the couple. Then you have my brother, Javier. He's just 7 years old, but sometimes acts way below it. He suffers from Neurologic Unrestrained Thought Syndrome (NUTS) a very rare condition he inherited from our mother. Because of his condition, he sometimes has very, uh; let's say interesting thoughts and insights into situations. Because of Javier's condition, Mabel stays at home.

LB: Doesn't your brother attend school?

EC: He does. With therapy and medicine, he is able to function to a somewhat normal level. If his condition remains stable, Mabel has plans to go back to work.

LB: Well, good luck to you and Mabel. We hope your brother recovers from his NUTS.

EC: I kind of not.

LB: What?

EC: I wish my brother would not recover.

LB: Why would that be?

EC: Well, sometimes, when nothing funny happens and I need a quick situation to portray, I just hide his pills and that creates an instant-comic right there, because he is bound to do something funny.

LB: Isn't that a bad thing to do?

EC: Laurie, we ARE Comic Strip actors. That is what we do.

LB: Well, Erik. We have to break for adverteasing, but before we do, let's take a couple phone calls from our lines. Line 1 caller, from MidToon, you are on the air, welcome to the Laurie Blog Show.

Caller 1: Hello, Laurie, I love you.

LB: Thank you caller, I love you as well.

Caller 1: No, I'm serious. I want you to marry me.

LB: Not now, Frank. let’s go to line 2, from Boise, Idaho. Hello, welcome to the show.

Caller 2: Hello, Laurie. I have a question for your guest.

LB: Shoot.

Caller 2: Erik, with all the comic strips out there, what makes you think that yours has any chance? Isn't the market saturated already?

LB: Good question, Erik. What do you think of that? Is the market full of comics?

EC: There are two categories of strips out there, Laurie. The ones about my family and the ones that are not about my family. The second group is probably saturated, as the caller says, but the first category, that's where I think we can carve a niche.

LB: Thank you caller 2. Caller 3 calls from MidToon as well. Caller 3, welcome to the Laurie Blog Show.

Caller 3: I still love you Laurie...

LB: Someone do something about this freak! I'm sorry, Erik. Sometimes we have technical difficulties, that’s one of the problems of a live show.

EC: No problem. I wish I was as popular as you are, Laurie.

LB: Thanks. Our next caller, line 1 again, from San Francisco. Line 1, you are on the air.

Caller 1: Hello, Laurie, long time admirer.

LB: Thank you.

Caller 1: Mr. Campos, You have a peculiar style that I find a little hard to place. I have been wondering who your influences are.

EC: I grew up reading comic strips and for the most part learning how NOT to do them. There are a few jewels out there, though. I think that in the panel form, the Farside must be my all-time favorite. In the strip form I think Luann is hot, even though she doesn't always agree. I also like Candorville and Dilbert. In longer form, I like Archie, although I like the artwork more than the storyline sometimes. I have also been a huge fan of The Flintstones, the old ones, before Pebbles and Bam-bam came along, and The Simpsons, and even though they are not comic strips, their perception and their world view definitely influenced my work. I think Matt Groening and Scott Adams are geniuses.

LB: Let me add something here. What about Peanuts?

EC: I like the salty ones. Oh, and also peanut butter.

LB: I meant the Peanuts comic strip.

EC: Ah, sorry. The Peanuts comic strip is an institution. I respect the influence that it had in the medium, and although I personally don't like it, I recognize that I use some of the conventions that it helped create.

LB: You don't like Peanuts? But Snoopy is the cutest!

EC: I respect its legacy and influence but I think it belongs in a museum, or in collectable books, not in the pages of your daily newspapers. The daily newspapers should be about current, living comics, not re-runs.

LB: Do you realize that you are likely to alienate a large segment of the comic strip readership by your last statement?

EC: It is just my point of view. I understand that some people cannot live without their daily fix of Snoopy and the gang. It is just not something that I like.

LB: Well, Erik, we need to go on a break now, but why don't we take a call from Wichita, Kansas?

EC: Sure.

LB: Wichita, line 2, you are on the air.

Caller 2: Laurie, let me tell your pompous guest something. Sir, you are a and how can you say that you don't like Peanuts? Peanuts is the best comic strip ever!

LB: To say I told you so, would be an understatement. You are going to alienate some people.

EC: Yes, Snoopy is very popular. There are two kinds of people, those who like Peanuts and those who don’t. Now, don't even get me started with Garfield.

LB: We will have to leave our talk about Garfield for after the break. This is the Laurie Blog Show on MidToon City Radio. More of our conversation with Erik Campos after these short messages.

End of part 1. Stay tuned for part two of the interview, coming soon