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Terry Moore is the creator of a well-crafted book that
Im sure youve all heard of, Strangers in Paradise.
Terry, like me, is a Houstonian, but I have to go up
to a convention in Dallas to see him and to get to
interview him. : ) Terry was a lot of fun to
interview, and as youll see in the interview, hes a
really amusing guy.
Sidra:
When did you first become interested in art?
Terry Moore:
I had my first drawing table when I was
two years old. It was one of those little kid
drawing tables. It was a Christmas present and they
have pictures of me drawing at it, making little comics
when I was two.
Sidra:
How did you get started in drawing comicbooks
and writing comicbooks?
Terry Moore:
I started in high school. We, me and my
friends, used to draw comics to make each other laugh.
Wed do one page, little vignettes, and kind of
underground comic stuff just to entertain ourselves.
Thats where I started working with stories, long
formats, and setting up jokes. As opposed to just
doodling pinups, thats how I got started, actually. I
got into the comicbook business because Id been away
from drawing for a long time and decided that was
something I really wanted to do. I had a lot of
failed comic strips and one day decided to stop trying
to do comic strips. I took all of my original
characters and put them in one cast; it turned out to
be three characters after ten years, and I put them in
one cast. Then I thought of what would happen if you
got these particular people together. Thats how I
ended up with Strangers in Paradise.
Sidra:
I notice a lot of people I talk to have a comic
or a set of comics that made them think "Thats what I
want to do with my life. I want to draw or write
because this inspired me to." Is there a book,
series, or creator that did that for you?
Terry Moore:
The old cartoon strip guys. Charles
Schulz had a big influence on me. So did Alex Raymond.
Thats where a lot of my admiration came from when I
was young. I didnt know who the comic book artist
guys were. I didnt know anything about Jack Kirby or
Curt Swan. I knew that I liked their work, but I didnt know
what their names were. They didnt used to be heroes
to everybody like they are now. They were kind of
behind the scenes men. I knew more about cartoonists
than I did about comic book guys.
Sidra:
You break stereotypes in comics by having women
characters that dont look 101% perfect model-like.
They look like real people and your books are very
popular. What made you make this decision and do you
think that impacts the success of the book?
Terry Moore:
Thats the total success of the book
art-wise and story-wise. I did it because thats the
kind of book that I wanted to read. I wanted to read
a book about characters that I could relate to and get
to know. I wanted to draw it well enough so that you
would know what these people would look like in real
life. That was my motivation. Thats why instead of
cartooning I tried to do a better art style.
Sidra:
In your book you use both comedy and drama. Is
it hard to set up both comedy and drama in one book?
Terry Moore:
No, and I really dont think about it. It
just kind of happens. I really dont know how to
answer that one. Thats just really the way my mind
works. Its not deliberate.
Sidra:
You currently put out a trade paperback of a
story arc the month the arc is ending in the monthly
series. Why the quick trade paperbacks?
Terry Moore:
Because there are a lot of readers who
only read the trades and rather than wait a year,
which is what I used to do, I decided to just get
started on them and try to keep them up to date, too.
I dont think that the trade paperbacks are keeping me
from getting readers in the regular series and vice
versa. Theyre not competing with each other, so I
want to keep the trades as complete as possible.
Sidra:
The production, speed, and availability of
Strangers in Paradise has been very good. How do you do
it when other publishers, self and corporate are having
a hard time with it?
Terry Moore:
Its just hard work. Its getting up
every day and doing it. This is what I do every
single day and Im pretty happy about that. I cannot
believe how fast its accumulated though. Im
surprised. There are around sixty issues of SIP, nine
trades, four hardbacks, and its in eight languages
around the world. Weve sold almost two million
copies. Weve done all that in eight years. It
surprises me how it adds up.
Sidra:
It was said a long time ago that you were
ending Strangers in Paradise soon. That obviously
wasnt true, but do you have an end in mind, like an
issue number or a year that youre going to stop at?
Terry Moore:
A year and a half ago I was considering
bringing it to a close to do work on other projects,
but I had a meeting with myself and I voted myself
down. I decided to keep this as my main vehicle
because it means a lot to me. Im not done with it. I
have more story to tell. At this point, Im just going
to keep going and I dont know when its going to be
over. I do know the ending of the big story, its all
in my head, but Im nowhere near it.
Sidra:
Why did you make David a kung fu karate guy who
can kill people with a single blow?
Terry Moore:
I got really drunk one night . . . just joking.
I did not want a good character that was raised a
namby-pamby, and thats just him through and through.
I think that thats a myth about good and evil, that
good people and evil people are born good or evil. I
think that its life choices, and so I want my
villains to be questionable. Are they good people
gone bad? I want my heroes to show that theyve made
choices. That they are capable of everything possible,
and its their choice about what they do or dont do.
I put it in there for balance. Maybe its a little
extreme, but what the hell; its a comicbook.
Sidra:
Do you worry that there is too much over-the-top
action for a comic with three main characters?
Terry Moore:
I dont know, because Ive had long
periods where they just sat around the neighborhood
and just did pizza and argued. People were bored
stiff. Its amazing how quickly they forget that.
Im tired of the crying stuff, but am I going to
apologize for it? Naah,.. I dont think so.
Sidra:
Your characters are so 3D and real do you
actually base them off of any real people?
Terry Moore:
Yeah, mostly off of you, Ive been stalking you for years.
Sidra:
Terry Moore:
Nah, Im just a real people person, and
so I have a lot of that kind of thing in my head. I
just draw from that.
Sidra:
If you could work on anything in the comicbook
industry what would it be and why?
Terry Moore:
I really wish I was the guy doing
Strangers in Paradise. When I wake up on Monday
morning my job is to go hang out with Katchoo all day
and thats the best job in the world.
Sidra:
Do you visualize the story first or do you
think up the writing for it first?
Terry Moore:
I think it would be story first.
Sometimes I will have a visual scene in my head and I
like the idea of it. The new book that Im working on
now, I had this idea of Katchoo snorkeling off the
coast of Hawaii topless, and just really liked that
idea. The new book has that scene in it, but mostly I
think about story, relationships, conversations, and
things people might say.
Sidra:
What do you want to work or next or do you just
want to continue on your current project?
Terry Moore:
What Im doing right now is trying to
make the Strangers in Paradise comicbook series the
best that I can. Make it something that I can be
proud of, but Im also very interested in this comic
strip collection book that Im doing... Paradise 2 which
will be bi-monthly beginning this summer, and Im
working the SIP novel. Im very excited about that.
So really that is my entire focus right now, those
three things. The priority is the comicbook.
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