An Interview with Jonathan Baylis
Jonathan Baylis is a true comix collaborator - his long-running autobio series, So Buttons, features his life, and words, rendered through the pen of a variety of different comic artists. In the latest issue (#12) alone, comic creators Carol Tyler, Ben Passmore, Noah Van Sciver, and many more lend their art to Baylis’ stories.
We were excited to talk with Jonathan about working with artists, and how he found his way to autobiographix territory.
1. Describe your comics journey--how did you get into making comics?
I learned how to read through comics. It was an early obsession that’s never left me. When I entered a study abroad program in London, my 2nd home became a comic book store ran by a NYC-expat. I was in film school, but had become disillusioned with that career idea, and at that store, I had this idea that maybe I could work in Comics instead. When I got back home, I drove to Philly to go to my first big comic con, where I met the Marvel intern coordinator and basically secured an internship right then and there. On my first day, Jack Kirby died and that should’ve been an omen to how my time in “mainstream comics” was going to go. I interned at Marvel, Valiant, and Topps, all while the comics industry was imploding, with folks getting laid off left and right, after the speculator bust post-Superman’s “death” in the 90s.
But! During that time, I discovered indie comics and auto-bio comics—Chester Brown, Julie Doucet, Harvey Pekar, etc.—and thought I might like to try one of my own! There was a local comedy club magazine called The Comical (I was dating a stand-up comic at the time. Now we’re married.) that featured a comic page by Pekar. I wrote the editor and said that I could write a strip about dating a comic and got the gig! I found a young cartoonist through Craigslist and So Buttons was born!
2. How did you develop your collaboration? Does working with artists change your writing voice?
With that first artist, T.J. Kirsch, who I still work with today (he’s been associated with EVERY issue of So Buttons) I learned that I didn’t have to write every little thing out. I leave some room for artist’s license. Sometimes the best ideas come from the unintentional interpretations of my scripting. It’s the joy of collaboration. The whole being greater than the sum of parts. But I’ve worked with like 50 artists now and each has their own sensibility and style. For Rachel Dukes, who has a very clean line, cartoony style, and drew a cat comic I loved, I wrote a story about my own pet. For Josh Bayer, who has a raw, punky style, I wrote a one-pager about how Johnny Rotten and I share a birthday (and he’s a jerk, ha!).
3. What are some of the joys and challenges of making nonfiction comics?
The greatest joy is always seeing the art come in. To have written something for an artist who gets what I’m trying to say yet adding their own flavor into the mix. It’s such a thrill!
The challenge I’ve put upon myself is to try to not be a naval-gazing downer when it comes to my stories. There’s plenty of that in auto-bio comix. I want to be relatable, funny, heartwarming, and hopefully interesting in general to the reader. Because I try not to go negative or extreme, there might be less conflict in So Buttons, so maybe it’s less sexy to some people? Some reviewers have said that reading So Buttons each year is like catching up with a friend. I’m totally ok with that. Comix is my friend!
4. Are you working on something now?
I’m always working on the next So Buttons, which is #13 this year. But I now have like 300 pages of auto-bio comix and it might be time to curate a cohesive collection (or two?) that groups together same-themed stories for an overall, I dunno, auto-biographical experience with a “character” arc?
I also have an idea for one longer YA book that I’d like to develop this year, and a five-year (or more!) plan for an even longer graphic novel. Should keep me busy forever, haha!
You can read some of my work on my IG @SoButtonsComics. I’ve been uploading easy-to-read, panel-by-panel, swipe stories there from my comics and you can also buy my books there or from my website at http://sobuttons.com/order/
Jonathan Baylis is the author of the autobiographical comic series, So Buttons. In the tradition of Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, Baylis matches his stories with groundbreaking artists to capture down-to-earth slices of everyday life and pop culture. For over ten years, he has collected his stories into the self-published, “So Buttons” series, of which there are currently twelve issues and a coupl’a specials. He lives in the birth borough of his dad, Brooklyn, with his wife Ophira and their son Lucas. Find more at SoButtons.com
I loved this interview! Thanks for introducing me to Jonathan's work! I can't wait to read more!