Me And Derek Laufman Q & A

The I Hate Fairyland team get to know each other a little deeper.

Skottie Young and Derek Laufman

I Hate Fairyland will be back on shelves today with issue #41 and a brand new artist bringing Gert’s adventures to your eyeballs! Derek Laufman is an amazing cartoonist who a lot of you ready know and love! It’s going to be one hell of a ride.

To kick things off we thought we’d get to know each other a little better. What better way to feed the egos of two fragile cartoonists than to interview each other. That’s just what we did! Enjoy the ramblings of two comic creators standing in front of the internet, asking it to love them. Enjoy.

What do you absolutely HATE to draw?

SY: Anything that needs a ruler. I hate rules and rulers. My houses, cars, buildings and things like that all look like they’re slightly melted butter. Not many straight lines to be found and I completely make up all my perspective. I’ve learned all the tricks to NOT have to draw straight lines or use rulers. I’ll play along and give one specific answer too. BICYCLES. I mean, who the fuck thought that dumb thing up. Fun to ride, terrible to draw.

DL: I HATE to draw horses… which is ironic when I designed one of our new upcoming I Hate Fairyland characters based on a horse. Sometimes you have to force yourself out of your comfort zone. It’s the only way to improve.

Were you a GI Joe or Transformers kid?

SY: He-man. Duh. But out of those two, I was definitely a Transformers kid. I was never a giant GI JOE fan. I watched the show all the time because I watched all the cartoons, but JOE was always just a little too “real” for me. the military battle stuff wasn’t as appealing to me as the more fantasy leaning shows at the time. He-Man, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Transformers, and the like.

DL: We were far too poor for Transformers and as a little kid I was obsessed with war and tanks so it was G.I. Joe all the way! Go JOE!

Baroness by Derek Laufman

First comic you remember reading as a child?

SY: An Archie Digest is the first comic I read. I got a big box of them from a garage sale in elementary school and made my way through a bunch of them. I really loved them.

The frist Superhero comic I ever read was DAREDEVIL #260. Marvel used to have boxes of random comics in the Christmas catalogs when I was little. Someone got me one of those once and this was in there. I remember reading it and being like “wait, did this Daredevil guy just get killed in this story? where’s the rest of the story? I don’t understand what’s happening. haha.

DL: This was also G.I. Joe. I was 5 and not the best reader but I definitely remember pining over the one single comic I had, G.I. Joe #7. I’m not even sure how I ended up with it but somehow it found its way to me.

All time favorite comic now as an adult?

SY: I KILL GIANTS. I will sing the praises of this book unitl the end of my days. It’s just a special book that I want everyone to read. It also helps that the creators Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura are two of the most lovely human beings I’ve ever been lucky enough to call friends.

DL: My all time favourite comic is I KILL GIANTS. The only comic to ever bring me to tears. Literal tears… It's a heart wrenching and beautiful story filled with giant monsters. What’s not to love?!

What's a perfect hangout look like?

SY: A small group of nerds sitting around talking about all the things that make us proud to be nerds. You know, things like Predator, The Maxx, why I’m in love with the idea of loving Terry Gilliam movies but never actually love Terry Gilliam movies, actors and directors filmographies, what’s the best pizza spot and why everyone should try a spicy sausage, pepperoni and pineapple pizza…then I order one. Something like that.

DL: A perfect night for me is a quiet gathering with a few friends and loved ones, a couple of drinks, sitting by a campfire. (NOT in the woods, yuck! In a quiet suburb!)

Would you rather be known as a great respected artist and be poor, or be known as a hack sellout but be stinking rich?

SY: Oh, I’m checking that STINKING RICH box real fast! You can call me Skottie HACKMAN Young if you want. I have two kids and they eat ALL THE FOOD in the world. Can’t pay for that with respect. haha.

DL: I’m OK being a hack. Bring on the bags of money!

What mainstream comic character(s) would you like to see Gert murder in the most gruesome way?

SY: Deadpool. This kind of loops into the previous question. I’ll sell out quick and put Deadpool in I Hate Fairyland and have Gert get all Gerty with his guts!

DL: Robin. I really hate Robin, he’s so whiny… I much prefer Batman on his own. I could totally see Gert going full “Killing Joke” on Robin!

What was the dumbest thing you did as a child that you could absolutely see Gert doing herself?

SY: I tried to make a homemade lightbulb once. It consisted of a metal wire, 2 U shaped nails, a clear plastic cup and an outlet. Let’s just say I was glad I thought to put on rubber gloves before shoving those nails into the outlet and blowing up all the actual lightbulbs in the garage. haha.

DL: A bunch of friends and I got into lighting fires. We were like 4 or 5 years old and my mom smoked so matches were always around. Curiosity got the better of me and we learned our lesson pretty quick when we lit a pile of leaves and almost burned someone's fence down. Luckily some older kids saw us and ran over to stomp it out. I was grounded for a while after that and deserved it. What a dumbass I was!

Your go to fast food order?

SY: Well, it used to be a a few double decker tacos from Taco Bell, but they don’t have them anymore. Even though they have all the elements to make them, they just don’t. I’m not even bitter. Nope. After that I’ll have to say a Subway Meatball sub, add pepperoni and pepper jack cheese.

DL: Q’Doba beef brisket Mexican bowl. Throwing everything in there except onions and Gauc. YUCK!

Worst convention you ever attended?

SY: Hmmmm. That’s a hard one. I haven’t really had too many bad ones. Most of the time I’m aware of bad ones and avoid them. Sometimes the weather or the location are things that make a con bad to me. Not the con itself. So, using that metric, I’ll say Palm Springs was one of my least favorites. Again, not because of the con itself. It was the heat. It was like 227 degrees or some crazy shit like that. And listen, that whole “but it’s dry a heat” just doesn’t matter to me, it still feels like you’re walking around in an oven. I walked like a mile to lunch one day and for the first time in my life I could feel the liquid in my eyeballs because they were BOILING. So yeah, Palm Springs gets the trophy.

DL: Yeticon. It took place in Blue Mountain. Stunning location for a con but it was 3 days and since it was half a cosplay event and half comic con… barely anyone came to the convention part. It was really awful, apart from the fellow artists who helped kill the time in this “ghost town” of an event. It was the only show I packed up and left a day early.

What’s something you know you can draw better than me?

SY: Ugh. I don’t know. you draw pretty damn good. Ok, I can probably draw ME better than you can draw me. When I don’t know what to draw, I often do variations of my self. haha. I know, there’s probably somethings to unpack there with my therapist. But yeah, I totally cop out of the question an say me. haha.

DL: I don’t think I’ve seen Skottie draw many vehicles. Not that I’m great at them and Skottie, the man can draw circles around me, but if I had to pick something to go toe to toe with, I think I’d pick cars. Buckle up Skottie!

SY: Derek NAILED this answer. He’s 100% correct.

Have you ever met one of your heroes and they turned out to be butthole? Subquestion…why are you too scared to name check them?

SY: Yup, absolutely. I ain’t SCURRED! (I am. very.)

DL: I wish I had a good answer from this but as a hermit who barely leaves his studio and lives in Canada, I get very few chances to meet my heroes. I also don’t really get star struck or care to interact with celebs so even if I got the chance I’d probably just avoid the whole situation. I’m beginning to think I’m the butthole.

Which of your heroes have you met and they turned out to be amazingly NOT a butthole?

SY: Luckily, most of them fall into this category. But the crown has to be given to Todd McFarlane. I was such a big Spawn fan from the time it launched and had every issue, toy, movie, soundtrack and even a Spawn Hockey Jersey with a custom SK8 as my number on the back! So after being in comics for about 13 years, I finally got to meet Todd and he was just amazing. So kind, supportive, and encouraging. We talked on the phone for nearly 2 hours and then had several chances to hang at cons, signings and dinners. He was exactly how you want one of your heroes to be when you meet them. NOT a butthole.

DL: This is going to sound like a total cop out but no bullshit, Skottie is a hero of mine and the man is a fucking peach! So I say, meet your heroes and also work with them if you get the chance!

SY: Derek also nailed THIS answer. Just sayin’.

What do you have on while you draw? Music, movies, podcasts, etc?

SY: I used to love audio books, but as I started to spend more of my studio hours writing, I don’t get to listen to them as much. If I’m drawing a cover, I listen to a podcast or put movies on. If i’m writing I put on movie scores.

DL: I bounce around from Youtube Podcasts and Music. I will go MONTHS with either one but rarely do I mix it up during the day. I also can’t listen to anything while I write or do comic layouts. I need the full capacity of my brain, which isn’t much to be able to spit out ideas onto a page. One of my favourite podcasts is ARE YOU GARBAGE and my go to band is TOOL.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how mad are you that Jim Mahfood is so damn handsome?

SY: 11. For sure 11. He’s too handsome and I’m really in my feelings about it. I have lunch with him once a week and every single time I say “Fuck you for being so handsome, you handsome fucking fuck. Are you getting buffalo wings or charred tendies?” He usually goes with the tendies.

DL: 1000! He doesn't deserve to be handsome AND so talented. I secretly hope he has a strange deformed body part. Like a second working butt hole he has to manage, something to balance it out. Like I’m talking high up his back and he has to wear a back diaper all day and night.

What would you do for a living right now if you couldn’t be in the arts?

SY: I’d love to have a pizzeria!

DL: I’d have to do something where I’d use my brain but I’m not that smart, not great with people, I don’t like manual labour and I don’t have many skills outside of art… politician it is then!

Name a creator owned comic you wished you would’ve come up and would crush it on?

SY: That’s an easy one. SCUD the Disposable Assassin! Oh man, I would have so much fun writing and drawing that book! A close second is MOUSE GUARD. David hit that childhood love of Don Bluth movies for me so that world would be so fun to live in.

DL: BONE. It would have to be Bone. I would draw the hell out of some Bone comics. Why does Jeff Smith have to be so damn talented?! It’s not fair.

Bone by Derek Laufman

Do you like going to see movies alone?

SY: Absolutely. I always have.

DL: When I was newly married my wife, Val would work evening shifts and I would have to kill a few hours after I was done working. I’d often go catch an early show by myself at the AMC and loved it. I don’t go to movie theatres much anymore because I built one in my basement. I watch many movies alone now because Val falls asleep at like 9pm like a weirdo!

Well, Derek and I are going steady now. Do people still say going steady? If they don’t I’m here to bring it back like we did RAD and BUTTHOLE. Yeah, that’s right BUTTHOLE fully back. Deal with it…ya buttholes.

If you haven’t signed up for Derek’s newsletter, do yourself and favor and jump on it. He’ll be sharing his IHF goodies with you as well as all his own amazing projects. We’re all lucky to have Derek on board and I hope everyone enjoys his work as much as me and the IHF crew does.

Also follow him on Instagram where he was way more followers than I do and I’m not even jealous or bitter about it. At all. I’m not even saying that in a very high pitched voice. Nope. What the fuck ever.

Make sure you come back here and on the socials to let us know how you liked I Hate Fairyland #41