Terry Moore - Strangers in Paradise! Five years! Raquel going up! Drivers! (2023)

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Terry Moore-Interview

[00:00:00]Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Citizens who are public patrons of the verse, either I'll go back to that, or the country can agree, that's Mr. Horsley and on today's show, well, he's the 1996 Eisner Award-winning author of Crater, artist of Strangers in Paradise. Terry Moore.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Yes. I think we should have mentioned that he received Harvey Awards again, two, one for lettering and one for his best cartoonists. This is awesome and cool with its two different categories now. Brilliant.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:This is fantastic. This is fantastic.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Yeah. And Casey got a chance to sit down with them and talk to him about his career, about his job, about paradise, about his work on Spider-Man, all those things that he's done.

This kid has a great career. He is an amazing artist, you should definitely check them out if you have heard of him before. But if you listen to this show and read client books, chances are you've heard of it, or at least seen his work. If yes, have you ever heard of the name?

Because there were some people. I know there are people out there who read the books but never look at the names of the craters and stuff. That was me for a long time.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:that was me[00:01:00]a.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Now that we're doing more of this, now that I'm doing more of it, I actually pay more attention to who's working on the books, but it's, yeah,

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Some of this is funny though, because sometimes you read a story like:

Okay, like today, this morning you and I have a conversation about Jim Shooter and you didn't know that when he was 16 he wrote the first run of Superman vs. Flash.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Yes. We were one of nine. He had no idea about Curt Swan's classic Drawn edition. I have this I have one

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:the classic stories of all time are superman and

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Yeah. We're talking about that, that was Jim Shooter and I looked him up. I think if it is Tim should, oh my gosh. Brilliant.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Yeah. This is really cool. Hey, before I get to this interview, I have an amazing idea and this is new. Johnny doesn't know what I'm going to say, does he?

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:No

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:I don't know the words that come out of me

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:No

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:So if you're a fan of the show and you hear the ending, always hear us say, and an ocean of podcasts, we are, and how Construe Lou compels you, open your mind and read more.

But what I want to know is[00:02:00]What is Catheline doing to you? Visit us on Twitter or Facebook. Tell us what it is and we'll add it, and maybe choose yours instead of ours. One that we always use, open mine and read more, which I think is important because you have to open your mind, but what we could use and what comes out forces you.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Yes I like it. That's great.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Yes, I knew you would. So I haven't even bothered to tell you anything, but after that, let's sit down and listen to Terry Moore in his own words.

terry moore:I'm more interested in reading the story. If I can bond with these people, like a TV show, you know, as opposed to, oh look, here's my really wild style. And they look like balloon animals and they say crazy things and you know a little goes a long way. Yeah,

Casey Allen:Yes. I can imagine. So, you, you didn't really have any formal training.[00:03:00]in the image other than as the kernel.

So when you finally decided to take that leap, did people think you were crazy? Did they think you were crazy or just, what, what was the impetus for you to be like that, am I doing now?

terry moore:Yes. You know there were two, there were two answers. normal people I suppose you could call normal, normal people who don't think about these things.

They are called Muggles in Harry Potter, right?

Casey Allen:Y.

terry moore:The Mughals thought that this man was having a mid-life crisis. You know, I could also say, you know, I want to be a professional football player, and they were all like that. But if he showed a comic book store owner or some other artist things to say, Paint would be impressed and agree.

And those were the people I wanted to reach. So I listened to them and I didn't listen,[00:04:00]You know, the sane adults around me. So she had selective hearing.

Casey Allen:but, but you too, you had your wife and children at home, how was the progress?

terry moore:Well, that was the rule, as you can imagine anyway.

That being said, you'd better keep your day job and don't change.

Casey Allen:Y,

terry moore:We better not back down a penny. And it took me a while, I did both for a year and a half before comics became more important than my day job. Know? Um, while I was at it, I was working as a freelance editor at the time. And when you do that, you're charging the client $300 an hour to be in a video editing suite.

Y. I received a call from my comic book distributor who wanted to contact me and if[00:05:00]I didn't answer the call because my entire book shipment had to wait a month. And that call was worth $10,000 to me, and I had that, so I had a $300 video issue or a $10,000 comic issue.

So you can tell which ones I did. Oh yeah. That's when I knew it was time to stop. So I stopped editing at that point and focused on comics and never went back.

Casey Allen:This is incredible. And in your work as a video editor, has that helped you? Did you take any of that with you in terms of something similar?

Narration and pacing and things like that. It seems like it creeps into the back of your mind, uh, at least a little bit, as you put together a page.

terry moore:You are, you did it. You're right. I did.

Casey Allen:Well, I am a very intelligent man.

terry moore:I mean, it's just you and Einstein. he dreamed

Casey Allen:Solo[00:06:00]like you and him, you know, huh.

I'm not surprised

terry moore:Bit.

No, you are, you're absolutely right. , I, you know, if I hadn't done the editing, they did the job with me as the editor, to sit and watch these actors all day. Every tape the actor has made. So you're looking at every nuance, you know. So I'm looking for 30 hours of footage to bring you this 20 minute documentary.

And I've been watching, you know, all the good and the bad and all that, and I've really learned that the faces of people who seem to be great actors are always moving. Even if they seemed to be static, something was up. That was this charisma, this mountain, this charisma that you couldn't get away from.

You know, so even if you think, say how, say Robert[00:07:00]DeNiro gives you the glow on the screen and you're like, well that's just a still image. No. If there is a difference between the live version of the still image and the live version that bothers me artistically with my art. Bent over, I'd look at it and say, how do you do that?

Is one eye a little narrower than the other? Is it the small phrase of the mouth? Is it the flare, the nostril? You know, and I've really had years to think about it. So it was so much better than going to art class and someone was drawing circles and connecting them, you know, and going over rough anatomy, you know?

By that I mean general anatomy. Yeah.

Casey Allen:So you've literally been paid to look serious for a long time. Deep. look at the people

terry moore:study people.

Casey Allen:yes. then a

terry moore:Walking small children, how they dress, how their clothes hang, how their facial expressions work. And I remember once you can't try.[00:08:00]Here's something anyone can try.

Please take a look the next time you see a copy of American Pie. Talking to Alison Hannigan about Bandcamp.

We just got over that. Put your finger on that, freeze, clicker frame and slowly go frame by frame and watch your face scroll all over the place. I mean, no two frames are the same and it did two things. showed me Expressive faces look so lively. But she also showed me how much distortion there is in a face.

Because one of the things I've noticed about people growing up is that drawing is just hero comics. Suppose they learn a way to draw the X. Men and X-Men have two expressions, gloomy or gloomiest. And if you look at the family photos for the last five years. Any photo can be different from yours, you know, your brothers.

and if you look[00:09:00]Let's say actors and look at their frames and go through them in slow motion, their face is very elastic and all over the place. And it really freed me when it came time to draw, I could chew and it was hard to figure out how to make them pretty and then how to do it over and over again.

And then I realized that I didn't have to memorize it like you would if it were a comic strip, for better or worse. Actually there are only three or four expressions that he learned to draw. But when you draw something like Stranger and Paradise, you need to draw a hundred expressions, and there will be attractive, disgusting, and repulsive.

And I mean, in my book, people can sneeze and pick their noses and open their mouths and, you know, it's just rolling their eyes. It's all, you know, and I like that freedom. And all of that I learned in the editing suite and in art class.

Casey Allen:this is YES[00:10:00]My initial, you know, back when you were talking about your work that just came up, I didn't even think it was that deep.

Yeah. For what you stopped, that's amazing to me. ,

terry moore:You know, I didn't realize that for the first year or two or three. That's when I almost burned out and started drawing comics at home for the last four years and did a lot of character design work. And how do I avoid drawing the same cartoon face over and over again like fans do?

And how, you know, how do I get free with that? And this editing suite solved my problems. It was really the trigger for it. Go home and think outside the box. You know, it was that, it was that, I think if you just had, if everyone had the same two or three influences, they would all be the same.

But if you find someone who is unusual because they behave strangely,[00:11:00]rare ingredient and the recipe, you know, that was my rare ingredient.

Casey Allen:This is incredible. So, yeah, you, you started, you talk kitu and strict in paradise, you started with that, 93. Yeah. And not long after that, it won the Eisner Award for Best Sequel.

that is, starting strong man. holy smoke

terry moore:Me, you know, when I first met, when I started and the book came out, I had a golden boy summer for about three years, you know, it was just wonderful. But for me, it caught my attention at a time when everyone was looking for that kind of thing. You know, there were a lot of independent comics, a lot of comic book stores, and a lot of money, and everyone was buying everything.

So it was a good moment. I was lucky.

Casey Allen:Yes, there was, there was a great, . At the time of the revival, however, I think like pure sacks, hate and eight.[00:12:00]Ball and all these other great comics, and then you come along and people go crazy. And he had something that a lot of the comics of his time didn't have.

, I remember, so my first exposure to your work was, uh, an article I read about, uh, in magic magazine, that, when you grow up in Alabama and there's not a comic book store around, you have a grocery store. Holy Smokes magic magazine. That's a, a window in

terry moore:A

Casey Allen:world you don't really understand, .

Then yes. Yes. I just remember being fascinated by your work and going into a comic book store when we got to town and buying a copy of Strangers in Paradise. And I loved how you were, especially how your illustrations were and they were not like her,[00:13:00]the comics and the atypical, capes and punches.

So I can always see how people really got into this. Did you have setbacks from people early in your career? Just because you're different?

terry moore:Not for the quality of being different. I always felt like I had people who were fans of the job, but there were a lot of people who were purists.

And they found the work sloppy because there was no consistency and consistency of design and the like. So, from a critical point of view, they would see it, they would see it, you know, so I definitely wasn't accepted in all circles in terms of a single cartoon coming out.

, Y. I, you know, and I focused on the story because I felt like if it's just about the art, there's[00:14:00]only so many there is a small space to talk also to play. But when it comes to the story, you play in front of everyone. So I wrote this drawing for people who didn't care what art looked like as long as it worked, you know?

also w

Casey Allen:What was your inspiration for the stories you did? Because I think you really broke ground in the comics just by picking up some of the issues that you created. I mean, you talked a little bit about the AIDS crisis. They talked about their rape and prostitution and all kinds of other body images they had.

, it's not something very important that people are talking about and nobody wants to talk about it. So how did you get there, especially because, I mean, as a man, how did you know that this is something you might want to write about?

terry moore:Well me, I grew up in a house with[00:15:00]Women and, I liked women.

I mean even. You know, since I was young, I have always had many favorite actresses. You know, when she was 12 years old, she was in love with Natalie Wood and all the other actresses at that time, so she was always looking and noticing what women were up against and going through, you know.

, and of course my sister brought her problems home from school and I heard what it was like when her feelings got hurt, you know, and I saw all of that. So, and then my mother takes care that the strange husband of hers gets too close and talks and they don't leave. So, you know, you're a little boy standing next to her.

You see that crap, you know, and you think you're keeping it to yourself. So I already had all this and that perspective in my head, well, how hard must it be to be a woman on this planet of predators? And not knowing if the next guy that shows up is okay or in trouble. And so I had this point of view in my head,[00:16:00]Writing about a story instead of being Apartment 3g, like, oh, do I love it?

I don't love him. It was more my attitude, love is absolutely the worst thing that can happen to you. And when you realize you've fallen in love, you went home and cried for a week and your friends were like, oh my God, no, no, no. Oh, gosh, no. So I took that position, you know, as a comedian.

And, but then I just played it. Somehow I wrote the scenes and, respectfully, you know how. These are real people and the damage is real. The situations may be funny, but the damage is real. And you have to be very careful here and treat people with respect, you know, so that I can have that old Alabama Christian upbringing in me, plus the modern world of everyone, they want to, you know, relax and I want, I feel like I have to go this way.

I feel like I have to go this way. Y. What will everyone say? Know?[00:17:00]So I was, I was like the guy, I felt like the drummer on the revolutionary battlefield, like I was watching everything that's going on around me, and I only write about it at night, you know? So it fell.

I wasn't personally involved in any of it, but I was surrounded by it. I mean, how could you not write about that? And I didn't grow up, you know, easy. All about superhero comics. So all I cared about was Neil Adams and Greenland and Jim Lee. That was not me. I was surrounded by artists like that, but it wasn't me.

It was more like, you know, when you're a rock 'n' roll musician you're in every house all day and you hear all these problems and you go to play and you see wild things and people make bad decisions and, and uh Yeah. this completely different world, you know, a different exposure to a different exposure of the world, you know?

So I brought that with me. That was my luggage.[00:18:00]That means,

Casey Allen:, that, that's, that's amazing. , ,

terry moore:some

Casey Allen:Of the situations you put your characters in, have you ever received backlash from fans? How dare you cut yourself or something? Because I can, I can see people. It's easy to really bond with these characters.

I mean they confessed how long have you had them? They have had them for almost 30 years. So,

terry moore:Yeah. Well, early on when it was, you know, right, the first five years, especially, Hmm man, if I had people I'd come to the show. And they shake hands with my wife and say: I love your book.

And she said: oh,

Casey Allen:Bueno,

terry moore:The boy with the ball next to me was Terry.

Casey Allen:Y.

terry moore:And it's like she pointed to a turtle, they turn around and see this bald guy[00:19:00]and they would go, oh And I mean, if Terry Maura was my wife, you know, I would have a much more successful career. So yeah, it's been hard, but I have to tell you that the gay community has been very, very kind to me, very respectful of the fact that this guy is from here.

The other side of the lake and they come in and try to tell stories. And I got accepted on the basis of work and not because of, you know, here's a straight, middle-aged white man, bald as the last man alive. You're six. I look like your dentist, not the cartoonist, you know? And I think they realized that this guy might be trapped.

As well as. You know, some of us feel like we're not in the right scan, and maybe he has the same syndrome in his own way. So they just took it, they accepted me and I,[00:20:00]that was

Casey Allen:Excellent. That's all with much respect and it looks like you did your homework too.

on things. Y

terry moore:I always have been, I grew up surrounded by creative people, so you have to be very careful not to grow up like that. And my cousin in Arkansas was gay and we knew it from where we were when we were five years old. And that's how you grow. And he was one of the first victims of the AIDS crisis.

And that really bothered me a lot. And I started this aging story out of respect for him, to show that those lives matter. And it was always like that, you know, there was always something behind

Casey Allen:that, that's, that's amazing. And my wife's uncle was the first man in Alabama to die of AIDS.

Yes why[00:21:00]they have a culturally very, very conservative family that he doesn't talk about. and that makes my wife mad

terry moore:so painful

Casey Allen:knowledge. And just, just because, I mean, he, he was a person. He, he deserves, uh, compassion and love, and it shouldn't be a secret. On the right. So,

terry moore:and that's it, ben had to leave arkansas and move to san francisco.

And you know, he was there three years before him. Understood and all thoughts began. I start and it dies. And you think of all the sweet things he did for us, our family. She was just a very hard pill to swallow. So me, my heart was in making the story.

Casey Allen:Wow.

terry moore:And I had a soft spot. I think maybe that, you know, me. There[00:22:00]they were characters in our lives and we always accepted them. But that really stuck in my mind and set the tone for my passionate plea for this, for this arrangement. You know, in history. Well, it might not have been like that if it wasn't for Ben and I didn't know Ben.

Casey Allen:that's, that's amazing.

In this. You, you've done it with strangers in paradise, and you've come back to them a few times. Do you think you have more stories for her in the future? Or are you in a place where you are happy where she is?

terry moore:I went back to them for 25 sips for their 25th anniversary last year and somehow put them in a story like this.

I collected many of my books. And then this year I did this book called Five Years, which includes them, but also introduces all my other characters. You know I threw away all my comics[00:23:00]to a big, big story. And I think in the end, I think I could chew and Francine, my original characters will have passed the torch because there's a younger set of characters that are a little bit more relevant today.

And at some point you want to wait, you wait and you always believe that you have earned the right to be in a happy place and stay there for the rest of your life. You know, and that's how I feel about Francine. You could shoot, you don't want to go in there and undo that and mess with it.

Know? neither did they, not James Bond.

Casey Allen:Y.Y.

terry moore:But I have other younger characters who are happy to walk across the street and blow up a building for me. So, I think that's, you know, at the end I'm going to give it a little bit of a break. They earn it. I don't want to think that it can ruin anything if you go back and play with it, you know, and whoops.[00:24:00]Then all of a sudden everyone got leprosy or something. no Yes.

Casey Allen:Yes. So, and that kind of, let's put a pin, for now, outside, I wonder. In 2017 there was a script you were working on for a possible film adaptation.

Is this, is this more advanced or is it, is it pending or,

terry moore:Ironically, the really short answer is that that was a first draft and I, the second draft was sent to me last week.

Casey Allen:Oh, wow.

terry moore:Yes. So they go up and take their prizes and say thank you for believing for nine years or 16 years or it's incredibly slow.

And the problem is that the people you need to work with are already working and busy. So[00:25:00]That being said, it's just that it's impossible for someone like me at my level to get the ticket, the time it takes to get these things off the ground. They see something, they love it. They say: Oh, that has a lot of potential.

They grab it and then they sit on it and it's their pet project and it's been in the fridge for five years. Know? that's something you know. But that's the good news. In reality, we talk about everything except the echo. So everything lives somewhere and everything is in different stages of the process.

And now my motto for everyone is: In my life, please. So this year I'm not even trying to achieve everything I have in my life. Please. Because if all this comes out after I'm dead and it's a huge success, I'll be upset.

Casey Allen:Yes. Yes. I mean artists for preachers, like[00:26:00]at least he could see it on the small screen in front of him, before he passed.

, But. Yeah Yeah We, we must see, we must see, a stranger is incapacitated, Rachel stands up, she always will, oh

terry moore:lives somewhere. , and my girl lives somewhere.

Casey Allen:Actually? Brilliant. So we can talk a bit because you're away from strangers in paradise and just getting started. , some others, we create our own personal projects.

But you also went and did it, you wrote some runaways, you wrote Spiderman Loves Mary Jane. How was that from your creator at work to work for one of the big two and then? Bye bye. Was it difficult because you had a great team of editors on top of you?[00:27:00]Was that

terry moore:a, I had two different experiences.

OK. When I did two Marvel books and they gave me all the freedom in the world, and then I did a DC book and. It was one night. It was very difficult. Like there's so much continuity in the various crisis things that I'd say I'd turn in a script and I'd have a lot of characters and 17 scenes in my script and they'd come back with three scenes.

And I can only use this character because everyone else is in the middle of another continuity. So it was very difficult to do that. who is sure that you draw yours

Casey Allen:hair out

terry moore:At some point I gave up. I couldn't even finish my run on the book. I just said, okay, that's too much.

But I know working at Marvel, the two Marvel books were a lot of fun. Yeah,

Casey Allen:Yes. And the, uh, the[00:28:00]Books in particular, just like, oh, of course it fits. Because I mean, they might look at what you did and say, oh, that's why we hired you.

terry moore:You know, the one that was the most fun was spider-man.

Unless, Mary Jane, they, I guess they let me do what I wanted and I had fun. And I liked the spidery red Spiderman when I was a kid. And I liked that. My favorite time was in high school. during those years of discovery and good humor. And I was happy to do that. The one that was tricky was the one on Fugitives because you were following the amazing creator Brian Kayvon who, you know, couldn't be wrong and he loved it.

And so I was ready to go ahead and go to Hollywood and start working on things. And they needed a little. Sweden did a short run and then they passed it to me. And so I'm set up for failure and I really thought I had to[00:29:00]It would be foolish to assume that, but I did the best I could. And the problem was that you work so far in advance.

I rode my entire race with no feedback. So I did all this and never knew. It's like, okay, is that just awful?

Casey Allen:Just to be a very disturbing nugget.

terry moore:And then I, I don't remember if anyone ran after me just for a moment, but right after that I put it down, but the book died and then I was like, great, I killed it. And the book came out the following year and it became, you know, people responded and they liked it. And I was like, well, I wish I'd known, it would have been a little funnier or something, you know? But yes, it was difficult to work so far in advance. Because when I do my stuff, I work right past the deadline.

and when I finished a book back then, it was in the store two weeks later. So could. Yes. Come on, Clinton was in trouble. I could make fun of that in my book.

[00:30:00]Casey Allen:Can we talk a bit about that? Specifically, the difference between writing for your creator of stuff and writing for a company like Marvel or DC is writing for a different artist.

terry moore:Oh yeah. The best thing about applying to an artist was that I got to write all of those things. I personally did not want to draw. You know, when I write for myself, my nightmare is to draw something like that, downtown New York, you know, suddenly all the windows in New York explode. It's in the script and you have to draw it.

Well that's a nightmare. But it was in Berto Ramos. It could, true. Oh, a beautiful helicopter view of the Malibu beach with all those houses. I don't want to draw this, but he was happy to draw it. And I wrote scenes like: Oh, okay. It's the Long Beach pier and you can also see the Queen Mary and all that. You know, Peter Frank's work, you know, if it had been me, he would have done it.[00:31:00]I had, okay.

Close-up of the head, just in front of a Queen Mary sign. oh

Casey Allen:Y.

terry moore:That was the big difference. He could take advantage of the fact that he was using an amazing artist and just take advantage of that. Yeah. so that was the good thing. But in terms of character treatment you have to, I really did my homework.

I read every single page, I read the Bible and everything to do with fugitives. And you know, you're really trying to get going, like all of a sudden you're working on it. The seinfield show. So you can't show up and it's your first week on the job on the Seinfeld show and that's right.

Something doesn't fit, you know, the problem is you now, so you don't want to be that guy. So it's like a new job. You know, you do your homework and try to understand your work.

Casey Allen:I want to talk about how you divide your creative time with your family time because you, you, have also worked with and done some very creative work. While[00:32:00]also have, have children. But before we do that, let's talk a little bit, you know, so when you did the Marvel stuff, I'm sure you took some fans of, strangers in paradise and the other stuff that you did, you did, creator listened.

Did you get feedback from them? , we did, he annoyed them that you move to one of the big two or do things for the big two.

terry moore:No, i do not do it. I never got any criticism for that because I wasn't like a purist, I wasn't like a door in the Fantagraphics quarterly guide, you know, live until you die. you know it wasn't

Casey Allen:and I would like

terry moore:I've already done some odd jobs for everyone.

I've done a bit with everyone over the years, so it wasn't weird. And everyone understood that after, you know, 12 years on Sip, I needed a break, and I think I announced that as well. So it took me a year to do these other things. And then I went back to making my own book again with Echo,[00:33:00]but I think they did pretty well.

And I didn't really understand any pain about it, I didn't realize it wasn't the purest, you know, it was never going to be a Spiegelman art magazine or anything. And there were, I knew people my age and. I was friends with him, but I wasn't, I never said I was. So he was happy to draw and make comics for a living.

You know, I'm on the brink of collapse with Diamond comic book dealers right now. I'm not exactly sure how to proceed, so I could end up, I don't know, you know, being locked out of our job, although I can't imagine that, but I mean, it's all back on the table, you know?

Casey Allen:Yes, yes. And I mean, well, you have the proven ability to consistently put out products. Well, I mean, I wouldn't blame them at all for picking you up.[00:34:00]thanks to you

terry moore:They are the most important thing in my business. It is living in the now. By the time you start all your stories, it happened 10 years ago, you're done.

You know, so you have to work in the now, live in the now, do things now. You know, Kellner, you know, today's readers are very different from 10 years ago. So if you didn't work every week, I think it would be hard to make the jump, you know.

Casey Allen:Yes, yes, I'm sure. Do you keep making people pick up strangers in paradise and rediscover or rediscover it?

terry moore:a new one, yeah, and i hope so, i guess that's how books work, it is like that and it's like reading a classic for the first time, you know?

You know, everyone discovers it for the first time at some point in their life, so. They just expect a lot of it from now on.

Casey Allen:I think a lot of the themes are in it.[00:35:00]universal and so it's evergreen that way.

terry moore:This is how a book should work. I mean it did my job and now it's available and it is.

It's there for people to find or notice or whatever. So now it has a different second life. Yes, there are two lives. There is this life of production. When I publish it, I think of Louis Louis Carroll, for example, who writes his stories, like magazines and newspapers, and then it's collected into a book and we see it as, you know, the story of Scrooge, and it's a great book that you find now and or whatever.

Y. They're Alison Wonderland or whatever, you know, and they were written, there was a production era where people at the time read it as it was written, chapter by chapter. And for the rest, it is the age of the book where it is on the shelf. She is waiting for you, calling you at some point in your life.

There they are.

[00:36:00]Casey Allen:So as a writer, like what it is. Which helps you to recharge and renew yourself, to have new stories.

terry moore:It is, I think, that your mind needs to keep you interested in the world around you. As a writer, nostalgia is your worst enemy. So I, I am very. I pay attention to what happens now.

And yeah, you know, the most nostalgic thing I have in my life is my love of jazz music, which goes back so far that I still think about what went through stuff like that in the '50s and '60s. But I don't look at comics from the fifties and sixties anymore. You know what I mean?

And I recognized the difference between, say, Robert Heinlein and.[00:37:00]Norman Mailer, as they wrote then, would not work today. You know, it's kind of her, her, her prejudices would show her, her professional style wouldn't read well in today's faster-paced world because everyone reads everything, it's not, it's not a new book anymore.

You read everything that was. You have to assume that your reader is willing to take whatever you have. So to keep them entertained, you have to start from that high point. Don't think, well, this is the first time you've seen incoherent sentences. Yes, you have seen them all. That has to be your attitude, so you have to do something completely new.

And that's actually the joy. That's what drives you to write every day when it occurs to you. A scene you've never seen before in a book or on screen. I had a moment, so I'll give you one.[00:38:00]Short, you went to her stepdad's grave and she poured lighter fluid on it and lit it up.

And the key was the guy, you know, who abused her. And I've never seen that scene on screen, and I've never read about it in a book. And I thought, I think this is mine. And I was very happy, you know, to have that scene and draw it and everything. So these little things keep you going. You know, like me, the more you write, the more you try not to write.

Like the people you admire, you try more and more to find your own voice, because only when you say something original does it seem important, you know, and you can write a thousand pages that read like Hemingway. Well, we've already had a Hemingway that's like listening to someone play Jimmy Page.

We already have a bellboy Jimmy and he's unemployed. why we need you The customer, including Jimmy[00:39:00]I can't get any more work. So, you know, play something new. Know? And that's how I feel as a writer and cartoonist.

Casey Allen:I've asked a few other writers and artists besides you that.

Do you listen to music while you write or do creative things? Does this kind of help drive you? Some people just like having nothing. Nothing.

terry moore:When I write, I need peace of mind to be able to let my thoughts fly, work and concentrate. But when I draw I need music to keep me in the chair. It's hard to sit in the chair for years, all day, every day.

So the music helps you stay in the chair.

Casey Allen:impressively Uh, and I'm assuming it's jazz, right?

terry moore:That's right, I love everything. So I can trace all these different things back to the past. Jazz, blues, rock, you know, yeah. even country, you know, i.[00:40:00]I have it and it's the same with movies.

You know, I have my beliefs, I have my heroes from each decade of the 20th century. I've watched all the old movies, and I mean, I'm as much a fan of William Powell and Myrna Loy as I am of Russell Crowe or something, you know? So yeah, when you're in the studio with a drawing board, a TV screen, and headphones.

They've been through all this for 25 years. Wow.

Casey Allen:Well, one thing I've been doing lately is we have the NASA channel, I turn it on at their international space station and let it run while I write or do creative stuff. And it is, I don't know. I like that, I like its glow, it's peaceful and it helps me focus on what I'm doing, you know.

[00:41:00]Otherwise I just look at the clouds.

terry moore:Yeah, all is well until this big shadow appears, this object circles the moon and slows down.

Casey Allen:There. There were a few times when I saw lights in the distance. I thought what the hell was that?

terry moore:Oh, that was definitely a change. Yeah! Sure.

Casey Allen:A great medium.

terry moore:So

Casey Allen:Your artistic process that I heard you talk about. Just those, it's just choices that you've made, um, how you do your artwork and what materials you use. Was it always like this, especially when you started with Strangers in Paradise, where, uh, you were so aware of it?

Because I remember reading it, I think, um, you said that in Rachel Rising you brushed off mainly because you wanted a harder pitch.

terry moore:Oh the other way around. Yes. was[00:42:00]with a paintbrush, because when you grew up watching cartoons, you know, everyone makes a paintbrush. And then I am an animation. So everything was brushed off and the default paradise was mostly brushed off.

And then when I did, I looked up Echo because, you know, it's a silver thing. Y. Going back to Rachel, I wanted a more hectic, earthy, scratchy feel. I wanted the site to look edgy and I still want to hold on to a subliminal message because I really believed in it. So I wanted everything I saw and put into my brain to be edgy.

Know. And I would try, so I decided to take a more penitential ink approach and harder, straighter lines. You know, there aren't many straight lines, and strange and heavenly. All is[00:43:00]Art. But when I got to Rachel, I started using straight lines, things like that, because it's not normal in nature, you know?

I'm not sure if there are straight lines in nature. Even if you think they are, you put a rule in there and say, oh no, that's not it. So I did things like that. You know, I'm thinking about this because I've had a lot of time to think about it, but you're trying to put that stuff in there, not for the first reading, but for the art teacher to come back and read it later, for the third time, and try to explain why. what worked this site.

Do you know why it is a sin? Why is it different than when someone picks up a large frying pan and quickly tastes something? Why does this seem to have some sort of emotional impact on you? Know? That means you start thinking like a painter. You know, you're starting to think, what do I write here? So if someone stares at you for 10 or 15 minutes, you can miss it.

There is something to see. You know, there's something, there's another layer behind the first layer. that's how it is[00:44:00]and that was, you know, part of what you have to do as a cartoonist, you know, you're not just drawing Batman and the cape and those boots. You can draw all sorts of things on there that might take two years to figure out.

Oh my word. Did you realize that Mike the Bat was in the back seat of the Batmobile the whole time? No, I didn't see that look. You know, things like that, you know.

Casey Allen:Me, I never thought that the kind of paper or pin you used or whatever would help set a mood. But it is totally fulfilled.

terry moore:Yes. Because we see it up close when we collect these materials. There is the rough paper and the smooth paper and the different appearances between the tool you use to create a line. ah It's about personality, you know, and when you're trying to figure out why my drawing sucks.

And Frank chose to look good, you start looking[00:45:00]First you look at his past, the talent is a, what does he use? And then, how does he draw and who are his influences and how does he do the head and how does he do the arm on the arm? So yeah, you get into the details.

Casey Allen:So it's funny that you approached Frank Cho because you're known and respected for your depictions of women in your art and for entirely different reasons.

Because Frank likes to draw, you know, really, um, very attractive women with big butts. And you attract people from a more grounded and realistic perspective. and he even wrote some, uh, some books about it. What inspired you to do this in the first place?[00:46:00]to, uh, to teach people how to draw women correctly?

terry moore:Hmm I don't know if that's it, I think I learned it from my exposure to European graphic novels as a kid. You know, when I was in the English school system, those were the books that I read that people from France and Belgium and so on had. So,

Casey Allen:Y,

terry moore:So I had an early opportunity to do it.

Looking at graphic novel writers from Europe, you know, before I did my own comic. And that's why I always found it very admirable. I love 10 10 and the way these characters were the opposite of, say, America's Dennis the Menace. Where her mom, her mom has a wasp waist, you know, and that 1950s cartoon style right there.

It's too iconic. It's not iconic either, but it's just symbolism. It's not the real thing.[00:47:00]It's just a symbolism of a woman. Know? It's a symbol of a woman, and I wanted more reality so that when someone said my heart was breaking, it wasn't always a joke. Know? So that it has more emotional scope than just being a straight woman inside a straight man for a comedy gag in a comic strip.

Know? So it was an effort to be a little more realistic, but still keep it that way. I, you know, it's like more printers. His, his people seemed more realistic, to ban a comic strip. And I loved it, you know, because it had a little more space than a lot of magazines.

Casey Allen:What printers? Who is it?

terry moore:He was the cartoons made in the magazine satirizing the movies and TV shows.

Casey Allen:yes. hate is

terry moore:just happened? She did, yes. So it's okay, but he's been a big influence on me because of his characterization of people, you know.[00:48:00]mmm So his hands had five working fingers, you know? Yes I like it.

Casey Allen:Brilliant. And it's that, especially in the 90s, when strangers were in paradise, it came and went for the first time around the beginning of two thousand, um.

Women looked ridiculous in the comics and, uh, the amount, the sheer amount of pressure that was put on their spine was, uh, kind of amazing.

terry moore:It was a medical miracle.

Casey Allen:Yeah. Yeah. It's like, um, I can't remember the name, I think it was his, it could have been a Ruben. But it was like, they took the painting and realized that if she was a real person, she would have had 11 extra vertebrae or something.

But uh that[00:49:00]It's really interesting to me that you, you seem to come from a purely artistic perspective, um, even though you don't really have any formal art training. But, uh, you, you took the course and I'm assuming you left. I got other stuff elsewhere and picked up stuff along the way. Do you still train those muscles and do things that help you train that outside of your normal comic work?

terry moore:Yeah. It's like class one, oh one, class two, oh two, class three or three. Where you don't go back to an Oh One, but you always learn. And when he was still drawing as a hobby, of course he would go to the library and take one by one, take all the books and go through the mall.

And I also heard other artists say that they also went through all the books in their library, their local library. so I think that's pretty common. Is[00:50:00]something like someone who is interested in something specific. Look for everything you can find about it. So this is constant self-education.

And even today, I look closely at everything that's good, you know? and I follow artists on Instagram. That they do completely different things than I do and just really admire the work. So yeah, you never gave up on that love and you have to keep looking outside your own world, you know? Otherwise, you keep doing the same thing over and over again.

Casey Allen:Who inspires you right now?

terry moore:Oh God. I don't know. should, should

Casey Allen:Believe,

terry moore:Yeah, and they're not, I think I have a list of artists.

Casey Allen:Is there a comic that is currently throwing your hair back? Can you enjoy and read comics now?

terry moore:I don't exactly read the big story crossover stuff, but I always find and discover new things.[00:51:00]Illustrators who have their personal work.

and they give it to me or I go to the fair and pick it up. An artist alley at conventions is full of great new talent. You know, it's a very lively scene. It would be nice if the public could see what we all see on the Künstlerallee

Casey Allen:a bit. I bet you. And hopefully you will experience difficulties again soon.

As we are deeply entrenched in the covert virus. So I'll start wrapping it up. I have a quick question about how you allocate the time you spend in your creative zone and you know it. Being special, you know, I'm sure you are when your kids were younger, uh, being a father and a husband and being there for your family, how are you?[00:52:00]How do you achieve this balance between work and life?

Or is it something you constantly struggle with?

terry moore:Well it was easy because I work from home so I was always here and available. and it has to be here. Here, when the kids would come home from school, and you know, every day, and it worked out pretty well. And I have noticed in others that the boys who are fathers with children at home are cartoonists, men and women who make cartoons with children at home and all that.

It actually works better than you think. So, and your mind just plays along. This is how we do it.

Casey Allen:Genial.

terry moore:If then,

Casey Allen:W, you know, the diamond distributions right now, things are crazy with that. Comic shops close. We need comic font. Comic swords are the lifeblood of the comic book industry.

Do you have something that you particularly liked? I always like to ask people where they are going.

terry moore:What stores? Oh Lord. I have a store in[00:53:00]almost all the cities we love. I hate leaving someone out with a list. It's Sophie's choice, right?

So my local here in Houston is, I can, you know, God is with her. Naturally. , he was Rock City Comics and they've been huge fans all along and they have a whole line of comics and they have great workshops. So they're available to anyone who wants to look at them. But there is a store like this in every city.

Meeting.

Casey Allen:Oh yeah. My, my favorite place in Birmingham is, shall we say, a combination of a tattoo parlor and a comic book store. It's called Sanctum and it's impressive. It's a few miles from my work. So it's great.

terry moore:It makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Casey Allen:Oh yeah. Yeah. And what do you think we can do now to help our local comic shops in some way, because it's a little shaky?[00:54:00]land now.

terry moore:I think what they're looking for right now is a business. Therefore, it is very important at this time to support your local comic book store. And everyone is there. Everyone's website is open and email is still working. So yes, anyone will be happy to sell you a comic and we can deliver it to your doorstep.

Casey Allen:So everybody, get out there, order change in paradise 25 and, uh.

terry moore:Well no, actually that would be nice, but also the current series, five years, check it out.

Casey Allen:impressively impressively Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?

terry moore:I have some special, special edition books coming out this year and we're not promoting them yet, but, you know, they're there.

There is still a long way to go, so stay tuned. impressively

Casey Allen:awesomely terry moore, thanks for chatting with me today. And, if you have something in mind that you'd like to promote or whatever, from everyone[00:55:00]means let us know.

And, we're going to use, our, our social media and all that other fun stuff.

terry moore:Thank you so much. And, uh, send me a link and I'll amplify it. Thanks for this exposure. I appreciate it a lot,

Casey Allen:Man. Thank you so much. Oh well, we're the kids on the block, and it was an honor talking to you because, uh, I've always been a little intrigued by your story, because really.

Do things that not many people do. And it's always great to talk to the person behind this, uh, this book.

terry moore:So thanks. You are very kind. Thank you so much.

Casey Allen:Okay, well, again, have a good time. please stay safe. You too. yes. wash your hands

terry moore:OK. In order. Bye bye.

Casey Allen:Bye bye.

[00:57:00] [00:56:00]Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:In order. was

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:We hear back from Casey talking to Terry and what his illustrious career there is like. What do you think

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:I want to go back and read Strangers in Paradise because, to be honest, I've never read it.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:If you're honest, I read the first one, I think half of it. I never finished it just because one, I

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:A lot

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Reading minds and it was, it was, it broke out in 2007, which was a time when I got married, I didn't read comics. But I want to read it because it's a really good story and you know I think you're going to really enjoy it.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Yeah. He seems like a great guy. I'd like to have a chat with him.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Yeah. I mean, like I said, anytime I hear an interview with someone other than McMahon for the show, I want to be on that one.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:It was like, it's not you and me.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Y.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:You say: oh come on

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:But I mean, I don't want Casey or Jeff to think that I don't love it when they do what they do because I love their questions. I love what they do, but I'm always jealous because I want to be there too.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Well well. It's kind of funny.[00:58:00]There's a lot that goes into this podcast, and it's more than just hearing us talk about the interviews that you guys hear, or even the, uh, little ones that we like to do, or the specific episodes, where we talk about a concept and bring it up, we analyze it, there is an edition, there are websites.

We have a network that shows many other podcasts. He goes in a lot. For Jeff and Casey to be able to do these interviews, like they did with Terry Moore, it's a huge help, a huge help, and we appreciate everything these two are doing for us.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:we do it 100% it's, it's, it's great. I always want to be a part of everything. So

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Okay guys if you enjoyed the interview I urge you to go to the dot com and check it out oh we did. Yes. To bid, because there are many things in Spore. The verse.com that. Man you could sit there, there's over 300 hours of content just for spore livers, or sorry for those only[00:59:00]Tierra.

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:but it is everywhere. I mean we have, we have a lot of things for you to see. There are so many podcasts, our show, so many other shows out there. Like matching dome doors and random adventures and wretched point radio and the list goes on and on and so much content. No paywall, everything is free to try, listen, comment, subscribe, all the things to do and why you're there.

On the top menu bar in the middle there is a button with the inscription

Casey Allen:you, you usually

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:on it and check out all the cool designs up there. Maybe you want his shirt or an aboriginal geekdom shirt or split country shirt or pamper her

Casey Allen:cabin fever

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:oh you

Casey Allen:You're mostly in the cooler like it's

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:They help us pay bills and get more out of them

Casey Allen:I told someone the other day that I'm, I still have to, uh,

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:On the right.

Casey Allen:look at me, my artist

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:A

Casey Allen:because the small

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:but we're leaving, I want to leave you

Casey Allen:salida

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:you want to help us

Casey Allen:more were taken from them anyway.

terry moore:That's how it is.

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Land.

Casey Allen:So,

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:you get everything[01:00:00]last things i think i'm saying that

Casey Allen:How did you deal with it?

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:to repeat it, but I think so

terry moore:um, well i have

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:of that.

Ve a iTunes, ve a Google Play,

terry moore:Every three days I have to go to the store to look for some things, but I don't see anything else

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:tell us what you like about us,

terry moore:do that and

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:help other people

terry moore:Once a week I have to go shopping and it's like

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:alright guys

terry moore:a race in a

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:Remember that in an ocean is a podcast

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Son

terry moore:no shotgun

Kenric - Terry Moore Intro Outro.Ausgabe:forces you to

John - Terry Moore - Intro and Other. Ausgabe:Head over to Twitter and Facebook and let us know what interests you so we can add it here.

terry moore:I'm getting too different and I'm not talking to anyone

Casey Allen:Very sorry. Wait a second. I have a very noisy five year old.

terry moore:Hola

Casey Allen:to a man named Terry Moore. Hello Terry.

terry moore:Hello in[01:01:00]Alabama.

Casey Allen:say ok Now say goodbye to Terry.

Very sorry.

That could

terry moore:Fresco.

Yeah. That's so cool. They like that you're willing to be around and they're interested in you, you know, like that. That's great.

Casey Allen:I love being a father. Yes, excellent. And, uh, I have two girls, so, uh, no. You keep me busy. maybe

terry moore:One day they will take care of you too. They will decide which one, which house you are in.

So good or bad.

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"Drinks and Comics with Spoiler Country!"
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interview scheduled byjeffrey hare
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